Feathered Nakama
by onepiece fanatic
Summary: Luffy and the gang are about to eat dinner after leaving Arabasta, when a girl falls out of the sky. She was injured, so the crew decides to nurse her back to health. The strange thing is... the girl has WINGS. Full summary on my profile. R&R please!
1. Crash Landing

Author's note:

This is my very first fanfic. Please be nice.

Disclaimer: I don't own One Piece. I want to though… cries

Chapter One: Crash Landing

It was the end of yet another day on the sea of dreams, the Grand Line. Luffy and the gang watched the sun set, with Luffy sitting on his special seat and the rest, Zoro, Sanji, Nami, Chopper, Usopp, and Robin, standing around. As the red gleam faded from the sky and the stars began to show themselves, Luffy sighed and looked around. His precious nakama standing all around him, and who knows what went through his mind. Who could, indeed, predict the crazy captain?

"Alright everyone," he said, standing and facing his crew. "Sanji!"

"Yeah?" said Sanji, although the blonde cook could already guess what was next. So could the rest of the crew; they all dove for cover… except for Zoro who was sleeping as usual.

"I WANT FOOOOOOOOD!!!!"

The cry echoed for a mile around, blowing out the ears of the crew and one pair of ears that was hiding in the twilight… in the sky.

"Okay, I'll go see what I can scrape up," said Sanji, while rubbing his ears.

"Geez Luffy, do you have to do that every time?" Zoro asked irritably. "I was having such a great nap too."

"You sleep too much anyways. Besides, Sanji's going to make a BIIIIG meal with LOTS of MEAT," Luffy informed Zoro.

"I should start charging you every time you blow out our ears like that!" Nami told him.

"No, you have to do what I say, because I'm the captain!"

Two seconds later, Luffy was covered in bruises and quietly apologizing to the mast.

Poor Chopper was laying on the ground, little spirals in his eyes, right next to Usopp. Usopp looked totally fine… he was sitting up and smiling triumphantly. "HA! The great Usopp-sama couldn't be blown away by a trick like that! I can withstand noises so loud, the full sound of an explosion couldn't wake me up!" he informed Chopper, who had amazingly recovered to listen to Usopp with stars in his eyes.

"Oi, isn't that a bad thing?" Nami asked.

Paying her no heed, Usopp continued, "In fact, I can withstand so much sound, people call me… USOPP THE STONE EARED!!"

The crew sweatdropped, except for Chopper who was completely in awe… as per usual…

"Hey you all! Dinner's ready!" called Sanji.

"YAHOO!! FOOD FOOD FOOD FOOD!" yelled Luffy, attempting to run into the kitchen first to steal everyone's shares. Unfortunately for him, Sanji gave him a kick to the face and he slammed headfirst into the mast.

"Moron, you know the rule," Sanji muttered. "Robin-chwan! Nami-swan! Dinner is served!" he called with hearts in his eyes.

"Okay Sanji-kun, coming," Nami called back.

Robin smiled. She had been accepted into the crew pretty quickly, considering that she had stowed away on the ship as the crew sailed away from Arabasta several days ago. She felt that she would never ask anything more if she could just stay on this ship forever, for the rest of her life, with these crazy kids.

Zoro was the last one on the deck, and he was about to go into the kitchen, he got chills and lightning seemed to flare up his spine. He instinctively put his hand on his Maitou blade. Something was coming.

"Oi, Marimo-head, what's wrong?" asked Sanji.

"Something's coming," said Zoro.

Immediately, the crew froze… except for Luffy who was taking advantage of the situation. He stretched out and grabbed everyone's food shares while they all looked out the windows for the threat.

Something whistled down through the air. The sound made the hair on Zoro's nape prickle… whoever this person was, or whatever it was, it was strong.

It fell into the crow's mast with an undignified thud, and lay still. Everybody was tense. This was the Grand Line, sea of impossibilities, so they were all preparing themselves for the worst… except (as per usual) Luffy, who was still chowing down everyone's food besides his own.

Zoro felt something different, and relaxed a bit. He took his hand of the hilt of his blade, and stood up straight. Everyone got out of the kitchen and looked at the crow's nest without speaking.

"So… who wants to see what landed in the crow's nest?" asked Sanji. No one answered.

Usopp surprised everyone by stepping forward. "I, the great Captain Usopp-sama…" he screamed, "…order Zoro to go see what's landed in the crow's nest," he finished, running inside the kitchen and peeking through the window.

"Tch, fine. I'll go I guess, since the Love-Cook here is to afraid to go," said Zoro, flashing an evil smile and Sanji.

"Hold on a second, look who's to scared to go up to the crow's mast to check what's up there, and trying to push it onto the cook!" retorted Sanji.

"Ya wanna fight, Love-Cook?" asked Zoro.

"Bring it on, you Marimo-head," said Sanji.

"I'll go."

Everyone jumped as a pair of arms stretched through the kitchen door and watched as the hands grabbed the edge of the crow's nest. Everyone jumped again as the captain flew after his arms.

"That total moron, rushing in without thinking again," muttered Nami.

"Sencho-san seems to be quite adventurous," Robin murmured to no one in particular.

Zoro noticed something floating down from the crow's nest. He jumped over the ledge to catch it.

"Oi, Marimo-head, what's up?" called Sanji.

"Zoro, what's wrong?" yelled Nami.

"Zoro?" asked Chopper.

Zoro was staring at the thing in his hand. It was pure white, and seemed to weigh nothing at all. It was perfectly shaped, with no flaws, yet it didn't seem like a normal one…

"It's a feather," Zoro called to the crew.

Zoro's train of thought was interrupted by a shot from above.

"There's a girl up here!" Luffy yelled.

"A girl?" asked Sanji. An image that is best not described was forming in his mind. "Is she pretty?" he called.

"Yeah! She's really pretty! But…"

Sanji's mind went into overdrive, but the next thing Luffy yelled down drove that thread of thinking right out of his mind.

"She's got WINGS!!!" Luffy called.

Who is this girl? Why does she have wings? What is her objective? Why did she fall in the crow's mast? How will this change the storyline, and what affect will this have on the rest of the crew? Please review! This is my first fanfic ever, and I want to know what people out there think!!!


	2. Experiment 413?

Author's Note: This chapter's a bit longer… hope that's okay.

Disclaimer: No I don't own One Piece… I don't like posting these things 'cause I'd bet there's no one on this site who actually owns the show/book that they're doing their fanfics on

Chapter Two: Enter Experiment Number 413

"Can you believe it? This girl has wings!" Luffy yelled to his crewmates.

Zoro stared at the feather in his hand, then shifted his gaze to the rest of the crew. Robin was as impassive as ever… he still didn't know what to make of that woman. Was she friend or foe? Nami, Usopp, and Chopper were predictably staring at their captain with their eyes popping out (literally), and Sanji just stood there with a smirk on his face. Zoro didn't even want to know what was going on in that Love-Cook's head. They all shared the thought of wondering if Luffy had finally gone mad… madder than usual anyways.

"ZORO!!" yelled Luffy. "CATCH!!"

With an almighty heave from the crazy captain, a dark shape came crashing down on Zoro's head. Zoro, caught off guard, fell on his butt, and found himself being smothered by a real WING, and the girl attached to it had fallen into his arms. He hastily put her down and stood up, getting a good look at her.

Luffy had said she was pretty, but who in the world trusted Luffy's judgment? However, he had been right. The girl had short, raven black hair that fell only to her earlobes, and a beautifully shaped body. It was impossible to tell what color her eyes were, considering that she was out cold. Her wings were pure white, though the feathers were rumpled and seemed to go every which way. She wore long, black pants, and a black T-shirt, but no shoes.

Zoro dusted off his hands. "Oi, Marimo-head! You'd better not have done anything to have hurt that girl!" called Sanji.

"I didn't do anything! Blame the moron captain for throwing her out of the crow's nest onto my head!"

The 'moron captain' jumped off the crow's nest right next to Zoro, and looked at the girl. "Hey, one of her wings is bent funny," he pointed out to the general crew.

Everybody jumped at this new information, and there was a general stampede to get a closer look. Indeed, the strange girl's left wing was bent in a place where it should not have been, and the red stain that was steadily growing larger could have something to do about it.

"Doctor… doctor… doctor…" stammered Chopper, rewarded by a general outcry from the rest of the crew.

"That's YOU."

"Oh. Right, somebody get me splints and a bandage!" Chopper said.

Surprisingly, Robin and Zoro were the first to help. Robin, who spent much time with Chopper while he worked, knew where both requested items were. She sprouted hands that lifted the cover off of a crate, and pulled out the bandages and a splint. These hands tossed the items towards Zoro, who brought them to Chopper.

Chopper briskly set to work splinting and bandaging the wing. About half an hour later, he said, "Okay, she'll be fine. Can one of you help me lay her down on a bed? I need to make some medicine for her." He dashed away to his little mini-lab to make the medicine.

"I'll do it!" cried Sanji, characteristic hearts in his eyes.

"Don't try, Love-Cook," muttered Zoro, who had supposedly gone to sleep under Nami's tangerine trees.

"Eh, what was that, you Marimo-head?" snarled Sanji, turning to look in Zoro's direction. "Now, time to carry the beloved to bed!" he sang happily, reaching for the girl… and falling flat on his face. While Sanji's back had been turned, Robin had created a string of hands that was carrying the girl to Nami's room.

"Kokaishi-san," she addressed Nami, "May I borrow your bed?"

"S-sure," said Nami, a little startled. The whole crew (excepting Sanji) still looked on Robin as a sort of enemy, and seeing the infamous "Ms. AllSunday" doing something for someone else with apparently no personal gain was a little startling.

The strange girl seemed to float on the hands into Nami's bedroom. Robin placed her on the bed. The girl just lay there, breathing slowly and steadily, and there was a faint line between her eyebrows, as if she wasn't really relaxing… but hey, a broken wing must be painful. Robin made sure the girl had gotten safely on the bed by glancing into the room, then she walked back to her chair… and started reading her book again.

Zoro decided he wanted to get a closer look at this strange girl. Jumping off the ledge, he walked in the room, looked at her face, and his eyes lingered on the line. It was strange how a single line could change the look of her whole face. She looked sad and angry at the same time, yet also unbelievably exhausted. This was a girl who had lived through tough times. Zoro reflected back to the death of his rival, Kuina, and wondered if this girl had been through something similar…

"Amazing!" yelled Luffy, startling Zoro into jumping and loosing his balance. He fell on the floor. "Hey, everyone, come and look at this! She's got a really pretty jewel on her neck!"

"Jewel!" Nami exclaimed. She promptly dashed up the stairs, ran into her room, and took no notice of her black footprint on Zoro's face, to take a look at the jewel so she could… ahem… identify it, and perhaps take it into safekeeping.

It was a strange jewel. It shimmered in the glow of the lamp on the ceiling, and little rainbows were reflected on the girl's skin. The jewel's clarity was amazing. Looking through it one way, one could see perfectly what was on the other side, but hold it at another angle, and the sides appeared to be mirrored. It was cut into the shape of a faceted sphere, and was about an inch in diameter. Nami looked at it with stars in her eyes, and even Luffy could guess what was in her mind.

"What a pretty jewel! I bet it's worth a million Belli at least!!" she cried.

"Yeah, it's really a pretty thingamabober," Luffy said.

As Nami's fingers twitched, Luffy looked at her sideways, and waited. When her fingers darted out, Luffy caught her wrist and gave her a serious look. "No stealing from the guests," he told her sternly.

Ashamed at being caught, Nami just turned her back on Luffy and flounced out with a sniff, her dignity ruined by running into Chopper with the medicine on her way out.

"Nami!" cried Chopper, as the bowl with the carefully ground medicine flew through the air and made a spectacular arc across the ship. It aimed for Robin's head.

"Robin, look out!" Chopper screamed. Right before the bowl hit her head, a hand sprouted from the head of her chair and grabbed it. Robin looked at the bowl directly above her head, and then, seeming to think that it was not worth her time, she looked back down at her book. Chopper scrambled down the stairs and did a spectacular face plant right behind Robin's chair. He hastily got up.

"Um… that was… I mean…" stuttered Chopper.

"Isha-san, I think this is yours," Robin cut him off. "Here." The hand handed (pun not intended) the bowl to Chopper. She turned and gave the frightened reindeer a small smile… and poor Chopper's nerves broke. Robin scared him to death as being the former Baroque Works second most powerful agent, and that fear was none helped by the fact that Robin had openly stated on the ship that her specialty was assassination. He screamed, tears running out his eyes, and ran back and forth several times before hiding on the wrong side of the mast.

"Shouldn't you give the medicine to our guest?" asked Robin, trying to calm him down a bit. The opposite of the intended occurred. Chopper screamed again, dashed up the stairs into Nami's room, and the door slammed behind him.

Nami was frozen in place. The whole episode had done nothing to improve her mood. She flounced off to cool down somewhere, probably in her precious, mini tangerine grove.

The ship quieted down. Robin smiled to herself, and listened to the soft crackles as she turned a page of her book. The wind inflated the sails, and the waves lapped ever so gently against the ship. Soon it would be time to put down anchor for the nigh. The light of the lantern flickered on the page. The stars had fully come out by now, speckled clouds providing cover to play hide-and-seek, and the moon was barely a sliver of light, almost time for the new moon. It was peaceful and a rare moment of quiet on this ship.

"AAAAAAAAAAA!!!"

The silence was shattered by a scream… Chopper's… and he ran out of the room to run in crazy patterns around the whole deck, screaming his head off. He was going to run into the mast, but stopped dead an inch from it. Then he fainted, white and twitching. Robin chuckled, then glanced in the direction of Nami's now-opened bedroom door. There was a considerable amount of movement going on, accompanied by yells and thumps that shook the whole ship.

Suddenly, the movement stopped. Robin logically concluded that the strange girl had woken up while Chopper was giving her his medicine, and had made direct eye contact with the easily excitable reindeer. After Chopper had run out, she had most likely panicked at finding herself in a strange place. Zoro and Luffy had probably done something to make her understand what was going on. Robin smiled to herself and turned another page. Sencho-san had many interesting ways of getting things through to people… and it was beyond the laws of reason to guess which one he had used.

While Robin had been hypothesizing, the new girl was sitting upright on the bed, blushing and pointing her sea-blue eyes directly at the wooden floor. Her hands formed fists on her knees.

"Sorry for causing you trouble!" she cried, bowing her head to her knees.

Luffy… what else… laughed. "Don't worry about it!" he told her warmly. "Are you with the government or something?"

Dead silence. The girl eyes widened, and she started to tremble.

"Hey, did I guess right? Hello? Are you alrig-"

"Do you know how much pain the World Government has caused in my life?" she asked softly. Robin, not really reading but listening in, was startled. Those were the words that she had yelled to a Marine not too long ago, in Arabasta.

There was an awkward silence for several seconds, before Luffy decided to break it… as always, without thinking.

"So… which Devil's Fruit did you eat?" he asked the girl.

At this, the girl was startled out of her anger. "A Devil's Fruit?" she asked. "What's a Devil's Fruit?"

Zoro stared at the girl. He had never seen someone before who had not at least heard of the legendary Devil's Fruits… What sort of background did this girl have?

Luffy laughed. "You're an interesting person!" he informed the girl. "What's your name?

The girl looked more startled than ever. "Name?"

"Yeah, what's your name?" Luffy asked again. "You know, what people call you."

"Umm… my name… I'm not really sure… I think it would be Experiment 413."

The mystery deepens. Why did the girl not know what a name was, and why did she give a number when she understood what a name was? Why does she hate the World Government? What sort of background does she have? Where did she come from, and is Luffy thinking something evil again?


	3. A New Name and Nakama

Author's Note:

Whee!! This story just keeps getting more and more fun for me to write! Time I should be spending doing my homework is going into this, but who the heck cares? XD I don't!!!!

Disclaimer: I don't own One Piece yadda yadda yadda….

Chapter Three: A New Name and Nakama

"OH MY GOSH THAT IS SUCH A COOL NAME 'EXPERIMENT 413', WHERE'D YOU GET IT? IT'S AWESOME AWESOME AWESOME!! YOU HAVE SUCH A COOL NAME…"

"'Experiment 413'? What sort of a name is that?" yelled Zoro over the captain's ranting.

"It's what they used to call me back where I come from! Is that what a 'name' would be?" …er… Experiment 413 said loudly.

"A name is a word that people know you by, something your parents give you," explained Zoro, quickly speaking in a regular volume as Luffy stopped for breath.

"What are parents?"

Zoro was so surprised that he fell on his butt for the third time that day. Luffy's method of showing his surprise was to stop ranting and to stare at her. …Experiment 413… blushed hotly at being stared at like that. She was getting the feeling that she had said something wrong again. That thing with the 'names' just didn't make any sense. If names were something people around you identified you by, then 'Experiment 413' was it for her. And what the heck were 'parents' anyways? The whole thing just didn't make sense!!

"Well… I'm Roranora Zoro… and parents are-" said Zoro uncertainly.

"I'm Monkey D Luffy! The man who will become the pirate king!"

"Pirate King? Wow, that's a high goal… to stand on top of this Pirate Age…" Experiment 413 murmured, looking Luffy over, taking in the red vest, rolled-up blue jeans, straw hat, and overall gangly figure. She frowned. "You don't really look the type."

Luffy laughed. "I get that a lot."

"Why do you laugh so much?"

"Because there's no point in being sad… It feels bad."

"But can't you sometimes feel sad?"

"I never let it bother me for too long. Why wouldn't you want to laugh?"

"…"

"Anyhow," Zoro cut in, "we should let the rest of the crew know that you're awake."

"Wait! We have to give her a different name!" yelled Luffy.

"What? Why?" asked Zoro.

"I won't let our new nakama be named 'Experiment 413'!!"

"What?!"

"No one's allowed to have a name cooler than mine!!"

"WHAT?!?!?"

The stars glowed with their pure light as Experiment 413 was introduced to the rest of the crew. While Luffy enthusiastically introduced her as if he'd known her his entire life, Zoro hoped that Luffy would forget the whole name-changing thing… though it might not be so bad having a nakama who was able to fly, and it was true that 'Experiment 413' is a hard name to go by in life.

"Alright, time for a crew meeting!" yelled Luffy.

"Since when do we have crew meetings?" demanded Usopp.

"Since now."

"ALRIGHT EVERYONE, GATHER AROUND CAPTAIN USOPP'S BARREL FOR THE FIRST OFFICIAL AND LONG OVERDUE CREW MEETING!" screamed Usopp, jumping on top of a barrel standing next to the mast.

"Okay, to order," said Luffy, stretching out an arm and pushing Usopp off the barrel before jumping on himself. The rest of the crew got sweatdrops (since when did the word 'order' ever come out of Luffy's mouth?), but nevertheless stood around the barrel. … Experiment 413… hung back uncertainly, wondering if the fact that he had said that they were nakama in the bedroom counted as anything now. As Luffy gave the first order of the meeting (the constant and unacceptable shortage of meat in the ship's storage, greeted by general outcries that HE was the one eating it all in the first place), she decided that it wasn't for her. Not comfortable with moving about the ship on her own yet, she just stood awkwardly where she was, next to the railing. She analyzed the situation. Her wing, thanks to her regeneration rate, would heal within two days. She would just hang around with this crew until she could just fly away. Before then though, there was always the possibility that the past would repeat itself…

"EXPERIMENT 413!!" yelled Luffy, startling her out of that train of thought. "COME HERE!! IT'S TIME TO DECIDE YOUR NEW NAME!!"

A new name… could that actually be real? Could the crazy captain actually be serious? She had caught herself wondering more than once why the other… not _quite_ sane people would decide to follow the Straw Hat, who was the insanest of them all.

"Okay, my submission is Niku-oneechan!!" Luffy put in, to an overall rejection (a rejection that was so loud, it blew him off the barrel). That was a real relief. Experiment 413 wasn't really sure what she would want her new name to be, or what a name really was to begin with, but she was sure she wouldn't want to go through what was left of her life with the name 'Meat Lady'.

"Alright, the great Usopp-sama has decided…" Usopp mused, stroking an imaginary beard, then he got an inspiration and pointed at her dramatically, "You will be Pachinko no Hitatsu!" This name too, was greeted with complete rejection, another relief to Experiment 413. She didn't want to go through life with the name 'Pinball of Certain Death' either. Usopp crumpled into a fetal position and faced the wall.

"Your new name is Mikan! It's perfect for you!" Nami exclaimed. That name was also rejected, and Nami reduced herself to a desolate heap by the wall next to Usopp. That was another relief… 'Tangerine' didn't really seem like a good name.

Different names and such were argued and rejected… names not limited to common sense. Suggested names were 'Kane-kane onechan', a Nami suggestion meaning 'money-money lady', 'Number-One Beauty', a Sanji contribution. Other names ranged from 'Hitatsu Wagome' or 'sure-death rubber band', Usopp's idea of a great name being skewed anyways, to 'Niku-niku Puncher', another Luffy-idea.

"Akahoshi," came the unexpected suggestion from Robin, as the names got wilder and wilder (to a point where it would be pointless to list them all). This name was considered, and having a name that meant 'red star' seemed to be nice, not like the absurd names formerly suggested. "Or maybe just 'Hoshi'," she revised, looking up towards the starry skies arching overhead. Everyone murmured in agreement, and even Nami righted herself from her fetal position to approve the name. Then everyone looked in Experiment 413's direction to see if she would accept or not.

Hoshi looked around at the crew. They were all smiling reassuringly at her… and she was getting uncomfortable, being the center of this sort of attention. Thinking it over, she saw no reason not to accept the name… these were good people. And amazingly, they treated her and they cared about her as a real nakama, a real human, even though she had been with them for barely any time at all. Things could be different with a new name, different from the past. She would never find out if she didn't accept now… Experiment 413 nodded shyly, and the crew burst into laughter.

"ALRIGHT!! It's settled then! Everyone!! Experiment 413 is no longer Experiment 413, but now her name is HOSHI!!" yelled Luffy, apparently having completely forgotten his depression at his suggestions having been completely turned down. The crew approved the new name with enthusiastic shouts and a badly made firework from Usopp.

"Okay, now that you have a new name, you can be our nakama!" shouted Luffy over the general clamor.

"What?" The surprised cry rang over the shouts, and silence descended. Experiment 413 was starting to breathe heavily, and was staring at Luffy with mixed emotion. Zoro watched carefully. The girl seemed to be feeling an utterly complex mix of emotion, sadness, pain, rejection, and hope, just to name a few.

"I said I want you to be our nakama," Luffy said. He might be an idiot, but he wasn't an insensitive idiot. He could see that his offer was making a major impact on her.

"But why?" The cry that Hoshi gave out held more emotion than she had meant to come out. Nevertheless, she had to make these people understand that she could only stay here until her wing had healed, not as a nakama. She wanted too, so much. They were good people, if a little strange, and they had been kinder to her than anyone she had ever known. She felt like she could really be happy here. But…

"I have damn WINGS. I don't know what Devil's Fruit you were talking about earlier, but I didn't get my wings from it. World Government genetic scientists decided that they wanted to graft human DNA with avian DNA, and here I am, the multi-billion Beli result. What they didn't know was that I had a mind, they saw me as an animal. I'm considered a research specimen, not a person! There was a time where I couldn't take it anymore, and I escaped. The government is after their precious experiment, and they'll stop at nothing to get me back! I'm the 413th specimen… Experiment 413… the only successful try out of 500 specimens. I've been betrayed by people who I thought would protect me and help me. They gave up my location for money! Damn green bits of paper meant more to them than I did. You guys… how do I know you're not any different? And even if you don't betray me, the government's going to kill all of you just to get me, and I can't take seeing people that I care about be hurt anymore!!" By the end of Experiment 413's speech, she was nearly screaming.

Zoro saw the crease between her eyebrows deepen, and watched her eyes try to hold back the emotion she was feeling. He was a little unsure of what was going to happen next. He felt that he should do something to comfort Hoshi, but something was holding him back… ah well. Luffy was probably going to do something crazy again. Zoro had spotted THE LOOK in Luffy's eye.

What Luffy decided to say was this:

**"Kampai for our new nakama, Hoshi!!"** Luffy yelled. "Sanji!"

"Okay," said Sanji, a huge grin on his face. "Chopper."

"Oh, okay," Chopper responded. He followed Sanji.

They both disappeared into storage for two minutes, then came back up with eight ginormous cups and three bottles of wine. Sanji poured everyone some, and the cups were all picked up. Nami shoved a cup into the newly named Experiment 413's hand, and everyone slammed their cups together with a cheer as Hoshi looked with utter disbelief at the scene.

**"KAMPAAAAAAAI!!"**

Experiment 413, looking around, realized that for the first time in her life, she wasn't alone anymore. These people didn't care that she was a mutant, a freak of nature… they saw past that and glimpsed the person behind outer shell, had liked what they had seen, and made her one of their own. They had made her shed her old name and old way of life, old fears and old wounds, and helped her to start anew once again. Experiment 413 had one thought revolving in her mind… she wasn't alone anymore, she had friends, she had nakama who cared about her, nakama who would never sell her for any amount of green paper…

For the first time in years, Hoshi was able to laugh full out without someone telling her to be quiet. Her laughter, everyone noticed, brightened the whole ship, brightened her whole face. Zoro, greedily drinking as usual, noted with satisfaction that the line between her eyebrows had disappeared. He nodded in approval. This girl was a better one than the one that had fallen into the crow's nest. Robin noticed the change too, sipping from her cup as a proper lady. She smiled… it was the happiness that she felt herself on this ship that she saw reflected in Hoshi standing there.

Unaware of being analyzed, Hoshi was happier than she had ever been. She had finally found people that she could trust… for the time being anyways.

So the stars moved silently overhead, watching the partying pirates welcome their new nakama, though hidden in the darkness, there was another, unwelcomed, pair of eyes that was spying on the dancing pirates.

The newly-named Hoshi has now joined the Straw Hat pirates! How will their future adventures be affected? Will this newfound fellowship really last? Who… or WHAT… do the new eyes belong to, and is it friend or foe?


	4. Hoshi

Author's Note:

Disclaimer: Okay for the last time I don't own One piece. GOT IT? However, I DO own Hoshi.

Chapter Four: Hoshi

"Robin-chwan! Nami-san! Hoshi-chaan!"

It was the next morning. All of the Straw Hat pirates were awake and getting prepared for another day on the Grand Line. Hoshi, starting to learn how her new nakama operated, watched from the side and helped where she could. Luffy pulled up the anchor by himself, Zoro and Chopper let down the sail, Nami had placed herself in the crow's nest and yelled the day's weather forecast to no one in particular, and Usopp was in his workshop working yet another random invention. Sanji had just cooked up a storm for breakfast, and, as usual, had called the ladies to come get their share (and the best food) first.

Unfortunately, Luffy had learned by now that when Sanji yelled the ladies' names like that, he knew the best food was on the table. It also meant that whoever managed to get past Sanji would have all the best food for grabs. The crazy captain decided on a plan of action.

Sanji was preoccupied with calling his 'loves' to breakfast, so while he had hearts in his eyes and was supposedly blind to the world, Luffy stretched his arm and grabbed a branch of Nami's mikan trees. He prepared to swing himself into the kitchen, watching Sanji carefully for the right moment (namely, when Sanji began talking).

"NAMI-SAAN!!"

Luffy jumped.

"We really need a giant mousetrap!"

Nami, coming up the stairs, had seen Luffy jump off her mikan tree and decided to play along. "Why, Sanji-kun?"

Luffy was 10 feet in the air.

"Because…"

Luffy grabbed the branch for the second time, and swung.

"We need to…"

Luffy was actually in the doorway.

"KEEP THE IDIOT CAPTAIN OUT OF THE FRIDGE!!"

Sanji turned around with inhuman speed and gave Luffy a spectacular kick, so poor Luffy found his head slammed into the doorway of the kitchen rather than IN the kitchen. He landed in a miserable heap.

Sanji opened his mouth and drew in a deep breath to yell at the captain, when suddenly laughter exploded like a golden star over the ship. Hoshi was laughing, and her the sound of it stimulated a flash of tenderness in all the crew members. This girl had been through a lot, and they felt good that all it had taken was a kampai to make her join them.

Hoshi felt secure and happy… more so than ever before. Robin and Zoro smiled to themselves, and glanced at the girl's shining black figure. Her wings, no longer rumpled but feathers in uniform rows, were flaring a bit, reflecting Hoshi's happiness.

"Alright! On to the next island!" yelled Luffy at the top of his lungs. It was after breakfast. Luffy was sitting on his special seat, and the crew was gathered around, looking over the vast ocean in front of them. Luffy saw a million adventures just waiting to happen and One Piece; Zoro saw himself as the greatest swordsman to ever live; Sanji saw All Blue, full of fish just waiting to be cooked; Usopp glimpsed a brave warrior of the sea, feared by all; Nami saw a huge map in front of her, just waiting for her itching fingers to draw it; Chopper saw a million medicine books that he had written, holding cures for all the sicknesses in the world; Robin saw the Rio Poneglyph; Hoshi saw an ocean, vast, never ending, and somewhere out there, her own dream waiting to come true…

"Nami! Are we on course?"

"Aye Captain!" said Nami, flicking her eyes to the Log Post on her wrist.

"Good! Sanji!"

"Don't you dare say it," growled Sanji.

Luffy ignored that. "I'm hungry. I want some meat!"

"No! You just had breakfast!"

"I'm hungry again! Feed me!"

"No."

"MEAT!!"

"NO! When I say no for the first time, LISTEN, damn you!"

"But I'm hungry!"

The conversation went on, and seemed like it would not make any progress. Zoro leaned against the railing and prepared to go back to sleep. Opening his eyes the barest fraction of a centimeter, he watched the blurry outline that was Hoshi. She had kept her black attire, so she was easy to identify from the other blobs. Her short hair was streaming forward with the wind, and her wings seemed to cushion her body, keeping her fragile figure upright. Zoro felt the feather he had picked up last night rub between his shirt and waistband. He smiled and leaned back, closing his eyes fully. He had not really been sure what to do with the feather last night, but he decided to just keep it close to him in the end.

Robin also smiled. She could understand how Hoshi felt. Being with this crew gave them both a sense of security that had been denied for most of their lives. Robin could relate with Hoshi's hatred of the World Government, and the feeling of never having been able to fully trust anybody… yes, she really could understand. Robin felt dimly surprised, realizing that she really cared about this winged girl.

As for Hoshi herself, it was the first time that she had actually looked forward to what the new day was going to bring. She felt surprised that she could change so much in merely one night, but it seemed that having been given a new name, she had left her old self behind with her old name. She felt reborn and alive, a new person… or maybe it was the person who she could have been without all her past pain waking up in the warm welcome of this boat…

Hoshi shook her head. Leave that sort of reasoning to scholars and whatnot. Of course, she wasn't completely renewed yet. There was that little shadow, that imp of doubt dancing cruelly, trying to find some way to squash her happiness. She pushed it away and snubbed it under a mental thumb.

Suddenly, under a random inspiration (probably a Luffy influence), Hoshi asked the crew, "Does anyone want to go swimming?"

The crew all looked at Hoshi, with the huge smile on her face.

"Sounds good!" said Nami.

"I could use a swim," said Usopp. "I want to test a new fishing rod I invented." He waved around his 'fishing rod'… it looked like a miniature cannon with knobs and a trigger.

"Catch some fish and I'll fry it up for dinner, okay?" said Sanji.

"YOSHA!! LET'S GO SWIMMING!!"

"Not YOU, moron!" screamed Nami, punching her captain on one side of the head. She flounced off.

"IDIOT!" yelled Usopp, stretching Luffy's face as far as he could to the left. He then flounced off after Nami.

"S-sorry!" pleaded Luffy. Usopp let go, and Luffy's face snapped back into place.

Hoshi looked startled and confused. "Why can't Luffy swim?" she asked.

"He ate the Gomu-Gomu no Mi, a Devil's Fruit," Robin explained. "If you eat a Devil's fruit, your body looses the ability to swim, but you get some superhuman power in exchange."

"Oh, I see. That's why he's so stretchy!" Hoshi exclaimed.

"Exactly. I can't swim either. I ate the Hana-Hana no Mi," Robin replied, sprouting several hands from her elbow as proof.

"And I ate the Hito-Hito no Mi," said Chopper, transforming from his cute little reindeer form to the big muscular man to prove his point (albeit a man with a blue nose).

Instead of being shocked or amazed, Hoshi surprised them all by giving a small smile and saying, "As expected of the Grand Line."

Zoro, hearing this, laughed to himself. Had anyone ever reacted to a display of Devil's Fruit powers like that? He guessed not. Peeking through his eyelids again, he thought _That girl has character. _

"Guess I'll take a swim too," he informed no one in general.

"Hoshi! If you want to go swimming, don't you need a swim suit?" called Nami. She herself had already changed into an aqua-colored bikini, making hearts appear in Sanji's eyes again.

Hoshi looked disgusted. "Wearing something like that?"

"It's more comfortable for the water!" Nami retorted.

"Well…"

"I have a spare one piece swim suit, if that makes you feel better," Nami wheedled.

"Okay… I guess…"

Half an hour later, Nami, Zoro, Usopp, and Hoshi were all jumping off the sides of the ship. The crew that had stayed on deck was still pretty shaken up by Hoshi's recent display.

After the two girls had disappeared into Nami's room, Nami had let out a piercing shriek. Hoshi had tried to calm her down, but it was no use. Nami had gone running in a panic around the deck and had had several Chopper moments before allowing herself to be calmed down. Hoshi had run up on the deck after her, in the borrowed swimsuit, and wingless. The rest of the crew had just stared at her, until Luffy demanded to know what she had done with her wings. Hoshi retorted that she had just 'pulled them in' to keep them out of the way while she was swimming. When Luffy demanded to know where, she had said that she didn't really know how to explain… Then she had decided to give an unannounced demonstration. There was a blinding flash of light, and Hoshi's wings had reappeared. A second flash of light, and the wings were gone.

Luffy had gotten stars in his eyes, and demanded to know what else she could do. Hoshi complied by taking her necklace off, holding the crystal in both hands over her head, and there had been a mighty gust of wind. When it died down, a magnificent katana was in her hand. It was perfectly balanced, and the color of the blade was smoky and light. Luffy demanded for more, and Hoshi changed her weapon into a dagger and a whip. She had made the wind blow and had made a mini cyclone form in her hand. With the rest of the crew looking at her bug-eyed, she had given a brief explanation.

"I have the power to control air."

Whoa, now that was an unexpected turn of events. Who would have thought that Hoshi would have this sort of power? Where does it come from? Has the mysterious person of the night before disappeared, or just went away to call reinforcements? What sort of bird was Hoshi's DNA grafted with?


	5. The Adventures Begin

Author's Note: I AM SO SORRY THIS CHAPTER IS LAAATTTEE!!

For those of you who have been faithful readers, please take a look at my profile. There is a special note for you there. Love you all!!

Disclaimer: …don't own One Piece. 'nuff said.

Chapter Five: The Adventures Begin

The Straw Hat pirates who had stayed on the ship discussed Hoshi… with the exception of Luffy, who's only contribution was repeated comments about how their new nakama was the coolest of cool… and Chopper, who was too scared of Robin to hold a conversation with her… and the only other person capable of having a discussion with her was in no mood to have one… so it was actually not a discussion, but Robin reasoning out everything to herself.

"She's going to be a great help in our future adventures," mused Robin, then she smiled and picked up her book. That girl was full of surprises, not unlike a certain crazy captain…

"Of course Robin-chwaaaaaaaaan!" sang Sanji.

Below, Nami, Usopp, and Hoshi all took turns to dunk one another... 'taking turns' being as good a phrase as 'breeze' used to describe a typhoon.

Zoro just floated there, watching Hoshi laugh as she tried to dunk the other two at the same time. She was an extremely good swimmer, moving almost effortlessly through the water, and if she dived down, there was barely a ripple to tell where she had gone. He felt strange watching her, as if his head suddenly weighed less. Her smile was drawing him in, and he couldn't help but to smile himself. He closed his eyes, to rid himself of the head in the clouds feeling, but that didn't really work.

Suddenly, he felt himself being dragged under, a slim arm around his waist. It released him almost immediately, but not before he had accidentally inhaled a mouthful of water out of surprise. THAT brought his head back down to earth.

Hoshi surfaced next to him, an impish smile on her face.

"Dammit, what did you do that for?" asked Zoro, spitting out water.

"You're a swordsman right?" asked Hoshi. "I saw your swords earlier. Didn't you sense me coming?"

"No, I wasn't expecting to be attacked by my own nakama," Zoro retorted.

Hoshi blushed hearing the word 'nakama'. It was still such a strange feeling to be called that by someone else after not being able to trust anyone for so long.

"Hey, you're kind of red. Are you getting a fever or something?" asked Zoro.

"I am not red!" denied Hoshi, promptly turning a deeper shade of red.

"Yes you are."

Hoshi decided it was pointless to argue anymore. She ducked under him and dragged him down by his ankle. Caught unprepared again, Zoro yelled and spluttered, his air bubbles popping at the surface. Hoshi let him go, and he swam to the surface again, choking and gasping while Hoshi surfaced some two meters away, an impish smile on her face again.

On deck, Luffy was laughing himself silly at the scene. "Oi, Zoro, you look like an idiot, you know that?" he called.

"I don't want to hear that from YOU!" Zoro said, spitting water out of his mouth for the second time that day.

Seeking revenge, he tried to catch Hoshi, but she was too quick for him in the water. She swam towards Usopp and Nami, who were still trying to drown one another, and Zoro grabbed Nami's foot by mistake. Thinking it was Hoshi's foot, he dragged her down, to come face to face underwater with an angry Nami.

_Damn, I'm not going to put it past her to fine me for this_, thought Zoro.

He was right. Nami dragged Zoro to the surface by his ear, and began screaming at him. Usopp scraped up the courage to tell Nami that she shouldn't yell at Zoro, because he'd thought that she was Hoshi…

Luffy just laughed as Nami, Usopp, and Zoro began to argue and continue to make frenzied attempts to drown one another. Hoshi was looking on and laughing, her bell-like laughter decorating the ship's atmosphere with golden tinsel. Robin, listening in as usual, was amused, and happy that Hoshi was getting along well with the crew. Robin was still somewhat surprised at herself, letting herself care about someone like that, but Hoshi was a type of person who she just felt like needed taking care of. She was fairly certain that the rest of the crew felt that way too.

Unbidden, there came into Robin's mind a mental image of Hoshi, cold and shivering in a dog crate in the World Government research lab somewhere. Robin shuddered and frowned slightly. The worst part about that image was that it had most likely been true, at some point in time. Robin shuddered again. She swore to herself that she would never let Hoshi be put into a cage again, no matter what she had to do.

"AAAAAAAAAA!!"

Robin was jerked out of her thoughts by Nami's shriek piercing the air.

"Something touched my foot!" she screamed. "Let me back onto the ship!"

"Moron! It was most likely one of us!" Usopp told her. Hoshi silently agreed. The trio had been splashing and yelling so much that it had been almost impossible to tell what part of who was where through the flying water… although she was getting a very bad feeling… a feeling that they weren't alone in the water.

"Shut up!" Zoro yelled. At his tone, Nami and Usopp stopped arguing.

"Naamii- swaaaan! Are you alright?" Sanji called down.

"'SHUT UP' INCLUDES YOU TOO, LOVE-COOK!!!"

"What was that, you Marimo-head?"

Hoshi suddenly realized what was wrong, and started swimming towards Zoro, Nami, and Usopp at full speed… which was really fast. It was fast enough to knock the three out of the water into the air to land six meters away… and to give Zoro an aching back.

"Damn Hoshi! What was that fo-"

Zoro immediately realized 'what' as a giant Sea King came out of the water with an explosion of water with its mouth opened, its lips lined with razor sharp teeth. He also realized that it had come out of the water where he and the other two had been had Hoshi not knocked them out of the way-

HOSHI!!!

She was nowhere to be seen! Zoro rashly hoped the thing that he thought had happened would prove to be wrong…

"AHH!! THE SEA KING ATE HOSHI!" Usopp screamed.

Chopper ran back and forth on the deck, screaming and crying. Robin had dropped her book on the floor as she stood up in shock, her eyes wide and trembling. She thought she was having trouble breathing. Sanji's made small sounds of shock and outrage in his throat. Luffy's eyes were hidden under the brim of his straw hat.

"DAMN SEA KING!" Luffy bellowed. "HOW DARE YOU EAT MY PRECIOUS NAKAMA!! EAT THIS!!"

He drew his fists back. "GOMU-GOMU NO-"

"OI LUFFY!! STOP IT!!" Zoro yelled from the water.

Luffy stopped in surprise. "What are you saying Zoro! That thing ate Hoshi!"

"Yeah, but that means that Hoshi is now inside that Sea King! If you attack it, you might hurt Hoshi too!"

"Dammit, then what're we supposed to do?!" Luffy yelled out of frustration.

The Sea King's head hung over the Going Merry, large enough to swallow the ship itself if it felt in the mood. It leered down at the small humans below it. Zoro felt like it was laughing at him, smiling in his helplessness. _Hoshi…_ Zoro's rage threatened to engulf his entire being as a picture of her face and her bell-like laughter rang through his head.

"KAZE NO MUCHI!!"

The Sea King didn't even have time to change its expression. A flash, and then suddenly its head was sliding into the ocean. The body swayed as another explosion of water from the impact of the head hitting the sea showered the spectators.

Robin felt a glow of hope, and suddenly she was able to breathe normally again as she saw a human form crawl out of the body as it followed the head into the ocean.

When the water cleared, there was Hoshi.

Hoshi was perched on top of the body of the Sea King, looking around at the crew, an apologetic look on her face.

"Sorry everyone," she mumbled.

" 'Sorry'?" Usopp spluttered, finding his voice. "Sorry for what? You just saved all our skins!!"

"Yeah… what he said!" shouted Nami, unable to think of her own words.

"Hoshi-chwaaaan! You're beautiful when you chop off the heads of Sea Kings like that!" Sanji sang.

Chopper was still crying. "Hoshi!! You're amazing!" he sobbed.

Robin felt a huge wave of relief, although nothing but a small smile showed on her face. Her charge was safe.

Zoro, staring at her form just sitting on top of the floating Sea King, felt cool winds of relief putting out anger and replacing it with a feeling of ... what? It was like nothing he had ever felt before.

"Can we eat the Sea King? That's a loooot of meat!!" Luffy… who else?

"Sure, I think we can," said Sanji. "Sea King meat has to be finely chopped, then rinsed with lemon water before being grilled…"

"Yosh!" said Luffy, interrupting Sanji mid-lecture. "Hoshi, can you reel that in?"

"Eh?"

"Bring in the Sea King meat! We can have it for dinner tonight! Sanji said he can cook it!"

"Oh…"

"I'll do it!" Usopp proudly made a thumb's up sign at Hoshi. "Time to test out my new invention!"

"Oh dammit…" muttered Zoro. "Hoshi," he called. "You'd better get off that thing.

"Huh? Why?" she asked.

Usopp clambered back onto the ship and picked up the cannon-like thingamabob. He aimed it at the Sea King, though careful to aim the thing inside a good ten meters to the left of Hoshi.

"USOPP FISHER!!" he screamed as he pulled the trigger. Usopp had perfect aim… but the cannon thingy didn't. A harpoon flew out of the cannon, curving around to the right… straight towards Hoshi.

"LOOK OUT!" screamed everyone simultaneously.

Hoshi saw the cannon fired, and saw the harpoon going towards her right. She didn't get why everyone was shouting at her… the cannon had been fired to far to her right. She turned her head and saw the harpoon curving around. She screamed and dived into the water just as the harpoon buried itself where she had been standing.

"Dammit Usopp, if you're going to test one of your freaking inventions, make sure no one's in the line of fire!" yelled Zoro. "You could have killed Hoshi!"

Usopp was about to bow and apologize when he received an unexpected kick to his head. "For once, the damn Marimo-head is right. Make sure ladies aren't going to be hurt if you try out one of your weird inventions."

"S-sorry," said Usopp, his voice muffled against the wooden floorboards.

Robin considered sprouting a hand to punch Usopp, but decided against it.

Hoshi's head broke the surface of the water. Spotting her, Zoro asked, "Hey, are you alri-" he cut himself off. Hoshi was laughing… laughing so hard she could barely keep her head out of the water.

_"Are you certain it's her?"_

_"Yes. No mistake. It's definitely her."_

_"Okay. I'm putting you in charge of the mission. Bring her back, or else the DNA scientists are going to have my head on a silver platter."_

Having narrowly escaped being a Sea King's lunch, the Straw Hat pirates are going to be facing another trial, it seems, very soon. What will be the result? Who were the mysterious voices discussing Hoshi's imprisonment, and how will Hoshi react when she finds out the World Government is after her once again?


	6. Musician

Author's Note:

Hoshi's song is "We Are!" by Hiroshi Kitadani… NOT MINE! I copied and pasted the lyrics of some fan website… I don't remember which one, there are a million, so don't ask

Disclaimer: blah blah blah… I don't own One Piece, but I own Hoshi and her moves…

Chapter 6: Musician

Hoshi had volunteered to take on the night watch, which was how she had ended up back in the crow's nest, the place where she had fallen from the sky and broke her wing last night. Thinking about her wing, Hoshi closed her eyes and felt for it. It was nearly healed, thanks to her regeneration powers. In a few hours, she could take Chopper's splint off, which would be a relief. She could hardly wait to fly again.

Sitting on the floor, wrapped snugly in a blanket, Hoshi reflected back on the evening's events. This day had been the best in her life. Being with this new crew, she had been instantly accepted as one of their own, and allowed to join in all their misadventures.

After hauling in the Sea King, Sanji had spent most of the day chopping the meat and cooking it. He had used almost four barrels of lemons, but that was to be expected for washing that amount of meat. Sanji had insisted that the only thing good to wash Sea King meat was diluted lemon juice. She had helped Luffy, Usopp, and Chopper squeeze lemons until their hands were wrinkled and their arms were sore.

Despite that, the feast that followed had been worth all the effort. She had been allowed to eat as much as she wanted, for the first time in her life, and she was getting worried that she had eaten too much. Thinking that, Hoshi chuckled to herself. Not two days ago, she had been worried about finding enough food to eat to fuel her body at all.

Luffy had, of course, eaten the majority of the meat. It seemed to Hoshi that the captain had been his gangly self one second, and the next, he was surrounded by plates and fatter than she had imagined anyone could ever be… and he was calling for more.

"Sanji! More meat! More more more! OKAWARI!" he had constantly yelled, eating food faster than Sanji could bring it.

Zoro had eaten lots, and drank more than Hoshi had thought was humanly possible… but there seemed to be a lot of that sort of thing on this ship.

Usopp had given another performance, with Chopper as his stage assistant. He had told great stories about his 'adventures' on East Blue, and sung songs praising himself. One story had included that when he was a mere boy of six, he had sailed East Blue, searching for adventure. He had come upon an island of savage cannibals who wanted to eat him, but he bravely stood up to them and had fired a storm of rubber bands upon them. The natives had fallen to their knees at this awesome display of power, and begged him to be their king. However, he gravely explained to them that he wanted to continue adventuring on the unpredictable sea, so the natives had showered him with gifts, then tearfully bade him farewell. Chopper had been dancing around waving little fans throughout the whole thing, taking breaks to stare at Usopp with stars in his eyes. The whole crew, including herself, had laughed until they cried, except for Robin, although she had been clearly amused.

This night had been the best ever.

Hoshi felt full of happiness, brimming over and spilling with it. She needed to do something to let it out somehow, or she would explode. She stood up in the crow's nest, and glanced around the deck to make sure no one was watching. Satisfied that no one would hear her, Hoshi started to sing.

Zoro was annoyed. Despite the huge amount of alcohol that he had consumed, he just couldn't seem to go to sleep. Luffy snoring and stinking up the room with the scent of roasted Sea King wasn't really helping, so he decided to stretch his legs and take a walk. Quietly, so as not to disturb anyone else, he picked up his swords and headed out to the deck.

The air was clean and crisp as he walked out of the cabin. He felt calmed just by breathing in the scent of the sea. He walked underneath Nami's mikan trees and lay down on the wood, listening to the wind rustle the leaves and the stars glowing above. It was a peaceful night, despite the party earlier. He relaxed.

Suddenly, the silence was broken by a gentle voice, somewhat familiar, but he was sure he had never heard it before. The voice was singing, a clear, sweet sound that blended with the calm of the night.

_Sagashi mono yume wo kaki atsume_

_Sagashi mono sagashi ni yuku no sa!_

Zoro suddenly remembered that it was Hoshi on watch tonight. That made sense, the singing voice sounded like her.

_Rasshinban natai yutai wo mono_

_Netsuni o gasare taiji wo torizora_

_Hokori kasuteta takara no chizuno_

_Tashikameta no nara densetsu janari _

He closed his eyes and smiled. Hoshi must not have heard him come on the deck. He doubted that she would be happy if she knew that he was listening in.

_Konjieteki na _

_arashi wa dame ka no_

_Biorhythm nokkate_

_Omoi sumoseba i!_

_She must be really happy to have found this ship_, Zoro thought. Well who wouldn't be? The crew may be crazy, but they were good people.

_Sagashi mono yume wo kaki atsume_

_Sagashi mono sagashi mi yuku no sa_

_Pocket no Coin_

_Soreto you wanna be my friend?_

_We are, we are, on the cruise!_

_WE ARE!_

The last words, Hoshi shouted to the sky, so full of happiness and excitement. Zoro listened in contentment. He was happy that Hoshi felt so at home with them.

Hoshi looked at the sky, her eyes shining. As her feelings subdued, she sat back down. She reached into her pocket and pulled out a thin flute, like a reed. It had six holes, and seemed to glow with a light of its own. She began to play on it.

A sweet melody surrounded the ship, rising and falling in graceful curves. Listening, Zoro was reminded of a beach, and the sound of waves lapping on the shore.

Robin, reading her book by lamplight, had heard her unspoken charge sing, and her heart had lifted in happiness. Now listening to the melody of the flute, she felt more relaxed than she had been in ages.

Nami sat up, yawning and rubbing her eyes. "Oh… good morning Robin," she said thickly. She glanced out the window and saw that it was still dark outside. "What time is it?"

Robin shrugged. "You went to sleep only a couple hours ago" was her reply.

Nami sat up straighter, and seemed to hear the flute for the first time. "Wow, what's that?" she asked.

"Hoshi's flute," Robin answered.

Nami was silent, taking in the melody and drinking it in. "It's so beautiful," she sighed.

In the men's quarters, the rest of them had woken up, but they were all lying quietly on their hammocks, absorbing the haunting melody of the flute… except for Luffy. His snores were destroying the spell of the flute. Sanji gently kicked him awake.

"Ehh… good morning Sanji," Luffy yawned.

"Shut up moron, it's not morning yet," Sanji told him.

"Eh? What'd you wake me up for then?" asked Luffy.

"Shut up and listen."

The flute, now free to cast its delicate spell, filled the room. Luffy listened, amazingly back to his typical gangly figure rather than a ball, and he wore a strange look on his face for several minutes. Sanji lay back down in his hammock and put his hands behind his head, listening.

Suddenly, Luffy chuckled softly.

"What is it?" asked Usopp.

"I think we found our musician," explained Luffy. "And we didn't even need to look for her."

Back on the deck, Zoro felt gladder than ever that he had accepted Luffy's offer to become a pirate. How else would he have gotten to meet Hoshi, or hear this wonderful music?

The music came to a final wave, landed on a low note, and faded away. Silence softly enfolded the ship in a sense of peace. Zoro closed his eyes.

Idly looking around for any signs of suspicious movement, Hoshi suddenly made out some dots on the horizon. She watched them carefully. As the dots grew bigger, she made them out to be ships… six of them. When they came close enough for her raptor-like vision to make out the symbol on the mainsails, she nearly screamed. She actually let out a petrified squeak before she clapped a hand over her mouth to silence herself. Though the hand stopped the scream, it could not stop her shaking… she shook with fear, a fear that gripped her heart in a cold, icy hand and refused to let go. Her happiness had vanished in an instant.

Hoshi could recognize the symbol of the World Government anywhere. She had no doubt why they were here. They had come for her, and they would get her new nakama as a nice side prize. Her legs refused to hold her, and she leaned against the side of the crow's nest for support.

Zoro, not asleep yet, could sense a change in Hoshi's atmosphere. Unthinkingly, he called up to her. "Hoshi, what's up?"

Hoshi's nerves nearly snapped from the unexpected call. "Zoro! Don't scare me like that!" she called down to him, trying hard to keep her voice from trembling. She didn't succeed. Zoro noticed the sudden tremble as her voice cracked on the second syllable of his name. He got up, and came out of the mikan grove to look up at the thin figure in the crow's nest.

"Oi, Hoshi, what's wrong? You're not looking too good," he told her. Before letting her answer, he glanced in the direction she was looking at. With his human eyesight, he couldn't see anything yet. The night shrouded the government ships well.

"It's nothing, nothing… go back to sleep," Hoshi said, the words coming out more irritably than she had meant them to.

Hoshi didn't know what to do. She didn't want to be caught by the World Government again; have her name be changed back to Experiment 413 and be considered an 'it' again. Neither did she want to involve her newfound friends in her personal conflict with the World Government. Her head was spinning. She didn't know what to do… she didn't know what to do…

"Oi, are those ships?" Zoro's voice broke through Hoshi's terrified thoughts.

She was going to snap at any second if she couldn't calm herself down. Trying to get her thoughts and feelings into control, she called down, "Just go back to sleep."

She jumped out of the crow's nest with amazing agility and landed on her feet at the base of the mast. She gave her best fake smile to Zoro. "Everything's fine. You should just go back to sleep, neh?"

Zoro looked at her false smile and saw right through it. It was completely different from the smiles that she had worn throughout the whole day. This was a strained smile, forced between her teeth. Also the fact that Hoshi was saying nothing was wrong instantly alerted him that something was VERY wrong. Nevertheless, he said, "Alright."

He felt that something big was coming. His nerves were humming. Laying down under Nami's mikan trees again, he made sure that his swords were in arm's reach.

Hoshi climbed back up into the crow's nest, buried herself in the blanket, and shivered.

Now what? Hoshi's scared to death of the World Government, and here they are again, to take her back. What is Hoshi going to do? Will she find the strength to fight, or give in?


	7. Memories

Author's Note: Everyone, please read!! I base Hoshi off of **ME**, MY personality, so it's a little insulting that you guys think that I copy her off of some random character that I don't even know

Disclaimer: I no own, you no sue

Chapter 7: Hoshi's Choice

Hoshi sat shivering in the crow's nest. She had been sitting like this for some hours, trying to fight off her fear so she could think clearly… unsuccessfully. She was torn between wanting to keep her new nakama and escaping the World Government. Her wing had healed during the night, so she could fly away any time and leave the Straw Hats to their fate… but she just couldn't. They had been kind to her, and had taken her in… some poor repayment that would be. Listening to Zoro snoring below, she dwelled on her memories of the day before, and she knew instantly that she would never abandon the Straw Hats to death.

As the sun first gleam began to turn the black sky to dark grey, she knew it was time to wake up the rest of the crew… and tell them that World Government ships were coming for her. She had to give SOME explanation to why the World Government was chasing the Going Merry… but she felt certain that the moment she did was the moment she would be abandoned again.

It was the hardest thing in the world to stand. Her knees had cramped during the long hours of the night, along with the rest of her body. Somehow, Hoshi managed to get to her feet. She stretched out her wings and glanced to the east… the rising sun sharply outlining the six World Government ships. Hoshi felt another thrill of panic at seeing them in the morning light… but as a sentry, she had her duty to the crew.

Painfully, every fiber in her body rebelling against the action, she drew in a deep breath to wake up the crew… and let it out again without a sound. She couldn't do it… the moment they woke up would be the moment they would tell her to leave…

She tried again… and again. Finally, on the fourth try, she managed it.

"EVERYONE, WAKE UP. WE… WE HAVE TROUBLE."

There. She had done it. Hoshi felt that yelling those words had torn her heart to pieces. She thought she could actually feel the jagged edges of her broken heart piercing her flesh

Luffy, predictably, bounded out of the cabin first. "Oi, what's up?" he called up to the white wings hanging over the edge of the crow's nest. "Hey, your wing is better!"

"Yeah… I guess it is," Hoshi muttered.

Zoro sat up and yawned, the sun streaming right into his eyes. "Tch, damn sun," he muttered to himself, shielding his eyes.

Nami and Robin came out of the bedroom.

"G'morning," Nami greeted the general crew, rubbing her eyes and yawning.

Usopp, Sanji, and Chopper tried to come out of the cabin at once, resulting in the three of them getting stuck in the entrance. Usopp and Sanji promptly started shoving each other and started calling each other names, while Chopper was being suffocated between them.

Robin glanced to the east, and spotted the World Government ships proudly flying their flags.

"Sencho-san," she called. "There appear to be World Government ships chasing us."

"What?" Luffy stretched his arms and jumped into the crow's nest to get a better look, narrowly avoiding Hoshi. He squinted into the sun. "You're right Robin!" he called, before looking at Hoshi. "Is this what you wanted to warn us about?" he asked her cheerfully.

Hoshi, carefully keeping her face blank, nodded.

"YOSHA! Everyone! Get ready to sail! Sanji!"

"What is it?" Sanji asked. He and the other two had miraculously gotten themselves unstuck, and he was now lighting up a fresh cigarette (if you can call 'miraculously' to mean Nami getting annoyed and punching the lot of them so hard that they fell back down into the cabin).

"BREAKFAST!!"

"…Okay… coming up," Sanji answered. He walked towards the kitchen.

Luffy jumped out of the crow's nest and sat on his special seat. "SET SAIL!!" he yelled.

Nami looked towards the coming ships and mused, "But why would the World Government ships come after us? It's usually the Marines."

"Well… it's sort of my fault." All eyes turned to Hoshi.

"No way! How is it your fault? You didn't do anything… did you?" asked Nami.

"I exist," stated Hoshi.

Robin suppressed a gasp, but she didn't manage to hide all of her emotion as her eyes widened. This girl…

Zoro just watched the oncoming ships with a strange gleam in his eyes. These were the people who had put Hoshi into a cage before… the thought of that girl in a cage in a cage after seeing her laugh and smile and chop off the heads of Sea Kings…

Hoshi bowed her head and gritted her teeth. She had said it. It was done. Now whatever they said next would determine if she could stay and live a happy life with them or if they would condemn her forever. Words floated back to her from her past…

"_What! We've been fending off World Government ships because of you? I won't accept it. The lives of hundreds are endangered by you being in this village!"_

"_I'm sorry!" a ten-year-old Experiment 413 whimpered. "I'm sorry!"_

It was seven years earlier. A smaller version of Hoshi was bowing frantically on the floor, desperate. The mayor's beetle-black eyes softened a little behind his half-moon glasses as he looked at the trembling child on the floor. "Because it's you… I won't turn you over to the World Government, but you'd better hurry up and leave before someone else does," he informed the little girl in front of him. "You're like a daughter to me. I don't control every single action of the people in this city, and I don't want to see anything bad happen to you."

Experiment 413's head snapped up in surprise, and the mayor smiled kindly down at her. He pulled her under her shoulders to a standing position.

"Here, I'll give you a present before you leave." The mayor pushed a small box into Experiment 413's small hand. She looked at it curiously. It was like a small wooden chest, with intricate decorations of gold. She looked up at the mayor, her eyes tearing up. "Thank you!"

"Don't be stupid, the present is INSIDE the box."

Experiment 413 blushed, and started to open the box.

"No, no, no, don't open it here. Open it when you're safely off this island, okay? When you've opened it, I'll know, so I'll also know you're safe, alright?"

Experiment 413 looked at the box in her hand, and a small tear leaked out of her eye.

"Oi, don't cry! You've got to be strong!" stammered the mayor, flustered.

"But… you're b-being so kind…"

"Don't be stupid. Put that away now."

Experiment 413 nodded weakly and thrust the box in her pocket.

"Now… go. Go! And don't look back!"

Experiment 413 ran, tears streaming down her cheeks. She ran to the lodging house to pick up her clothes and say farewells. Running through the door with a bang, she started running down the hallway to her room. The landlady looked up from behind her desk. "Hello little miss!"

"Hello Auntie," Experiment 413 gasped, stopping her mad dash for a couple seconds, catching her breath.

"Oh, little miss, you have some visitors. They came to see you while you were out."

World Government agents appeared as if from nowhere, armed with lethal-looking pistols and dark sunglasses. Experiment 413 stared in horror at the landlady, who stared coldly back at her. Then, for the second time that day, Experiment 413 ran. She ran and ran and ran. Behind her, she heard shouts.

"Don't let her get away!"

"She's dangerous, be careful!"

"If she gets on the loose, we'll never find her again!"

"That monster!"

And worst of all… "Now, where is my money? I turned her in, didn't I? Give me my money!"

Experiment 413's vision was blurry. Her tears fell and seemed to float behind her as she ran through the streets, desperately going down one alley after another, but the running of a tired 10-year-old couldn't keep ahead of a squadron of trained World Government operatives for long. Suddenly, she stumbled and fell.

"We've got her! She's in here!"

"Surround her! Don't let her escape!"

Panic welled up inside her as she got up and saw a ring of operatives surrounding her, all pointing guns at her. She was trapped again… trapped…

"OI!! STOP IT!! WHAT ARE YOU DOING?"

There was a gunshot, and one of the operatives fell dead. Experiment 413 looked up. It was the mayor! Pathetic hope flooded her heart.

"Leave that child alone!" he yelled, reloading his pistol. "This girl was a child of the village, for however short a time, and the people of the village are my responsibility! You won't put her into a cage when she did nothing wrong to invoke your justice in the first place, you bastards!"

"This creature is not a human being." One of the operatives stepped forward. He had no distinguishable features save a curled, golden goatee. "It is a delicate experiment of World Government scientists, and must be removed for the safety of everyone in this village!"

"Unhand her, you freaking idiots! You have no humanity!"

"For justice, humanity is a luxury."

"Mayor, please stop it!" Experiment 413 screamed. These people had guns, and they were all pointing at him! He was going to get killed!

The mayor shot his gun again, twice, three times, taking down three operatives with him before the one who appeared to be their commander gave the order to fire.

Experiment 413's vision went red as the mayor fell. He appeared to fall in slow motion, blood streaming out his chest. His eyes found hers, and the moment their eyes locked stretched an eternity. A scream formed in her chest, but refused to go past her throat. He smiled at her, and his mouth moved as tears leaked from his eyes. She didn't hear the gunshots… she heard only the mayor's last words…

"Fly free, daughter."

Then he hit the ground. His golden half-moon glasses shattered on the pavestones. Experiment 413's vision was filled with the World Government operatives that had killed him, the one who had given the order to fire with his curling blonde goatee, and a hate rooted in her chest, a consuming hate that seemed to boil her insides. Murderous rage filled her mind, blocking out all other thought.

She had never wanted to kill anyone before, but her eyes filled with the face of the operative who had given the order to fire, and a cry thirsting for blood forced its way out of her chest. She tried to take a step forward, but something stopped her. The box in her pocket… the mayor's present… dug a corner into her leg. It seemed to be whispering the mayor's last words over and over into her mind, and she understood what he had wanted her to do.

"Fly free, daughter."

She couldn't kill this man. Not if she didn't want the mayor's life to have been in vain. There was a flash of light that blinded even the sunglassed- eyes of the World Government agents…

"Damn you all!! Especially YOU." Experiment 413 focused her hate-filled eyes on the operative with the curly goatee.

"Fly free, daughter."

Her wings beat against the air, and her feet left the ground.

"Fly free, daughter."

Gunshots were fired at her, but none of the bullets seemed to hit her because a strong wind was circling her, deflecting all of the bullets.

"Fly free, daughter."

She flew into the sky and behind a cloud, tears streaming down her cheeks. She didn't know where to go next, but she had to go somewhere. Experiment 413 randomly chose a direction and began flying, beat by beat, in that direction. As she flew, she opened the mayor's present, and a crystal, sparkling and shimmering with all the colors of the rainbow, shone out at her from a black velvet bed. Tears clouded her eyes again, and she wailed her heart out into the sky.

"_Fly free."_

Luffy watched Hoshi's bowed head, his face serious and an unreadable expression on his face. Coming to a decision, he stood on his special seat and faced the oncoming World Government ships with shadowed eyes. Who could tell what was going on under that straw hat? The ships had come close enough for the Straw Hats to make out small dots in white and black uniforms running around the decks. The crew waited. Luffy drew in a deep breath…

"OI!!! WORLD GOVERNMENT SCUM!!" he yelled. The dots stopped moving around. Hoshi snapped her head up, looking at Luffy with the same utter disbelief that she had watched the crew kampai her with the other night… disbelieving, yet full of hope. "JUST TRY TO PUT HOSHI INTO A CAGE AGAIN, AND I'LL KICK ALL YOUR ASSES YOU LOUSY BASTARDS! BRING IT ON!!!"

Hoshi gasped, and her aqua eyes widened. The crew smiled. As expected of their captain.

Hoshi's eyes brimmed with tears. She sank to her knees and her body shook with suppressed sobs. Hoshi's hands covered her face. As her tears leaked through her hands, one thought made its way through her happiness.

_Mayor, I'm not alone anymore!!_

A tear landed on the crystal hanging on Hoshi's throat, slid down its length, and fell to the ground.

Now what? The captain has declared battle against the incoming World Government ships to save his new nakama. What will this lead to? Will the Straw Hats survive this attack? With her nakama on the line, will Hoshi find the courage to fight?


	8. Attack! Sort Of

Author's Note: Hey, I have an idea where I'll take this story after this Naval attack… message me if you want to know!

Disclaimer: don't own One Piece…

Chapter 8: Attack!!... Sort Of…

"Fire, fire, fire! Don't let those lousy pirates get away!"

"AYE."

On the decks of the World Government ships, cannons were all lined up and firing at will. Strangely, or strange to the World Government at least, the cannons seemed to make no contact with the ship.

"Gomu-Gomu no Fusen!"

Zoro and Sanji were playing catch with a giant Luffy balloon, making sure that the path of the balloon would bounce off the incoming cannons at their sniper's suggestions.

"Three o'clock!" Usopp yelled from the crow's nest. "There's one coming in from three o' clock!"

"What the hell… which three o'clock?" Zoro called. "Yours or mine?"

"YOU BLOCKHEAD!! IT'S MERRY'S THREE O' CLOCK!!"

"Oh. I see." Zoro punched the Luffy balloon, and he went flying… in the wrong direction.

"MOROOOON!! WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING!?"

"You said three o' clock!"

"YOU KICKED HIM TOWARDS YOUR THREE O' CLOCK!!"

"Did I?"

Usopp fell into a hopeless heap on the side of the crow's nest. "We're gonna die," he moaned, tears streaming out his eyes.

"Yes, it seems so," Robin agreed.

"DON'T AGREE WITH HIM!" Nami yelled, stress marks on her forehead.

Sanji jumped into the air and corrected Zoro's mistake just in time… the cannon squashed the balloon against the ship's hull.

Nami stalked over to the door that led down to the ship's hull. "Chopper, are we alright?"

Chopper, in his human form, glanced over at Nami and nodded. "There's enough timber to last a while if all we get are shock waves from the cannons that hit the water," he told her. Nami nodded and gave him a thumbs-up.

"Those bastards, trying to sink my ship!" Luffy roared, still flying around in balloon form. He suddenly shrunk back to normal size and landed on the deck. Grabbing the ship's tail-end banister, he stretched his arms and walked backwards until he was almost back at the front of the ship.

"Zoro! Sanji! Grab hold! We're going to beat all those guys asses so they can't shoot anymore!"

"Damn."

Zoro and Sanji, nevertheless, obeyed their captain's orders. They both grabbed Luffy's shoulders and hung on for their lives. Hoshi, suddenly realizing what they were doing, walked up to them. "You guys're going to get killed, ya know," she said languidly.

"Hoshi-chaan! Did you come to bid us farewell?" Sanji sang, completely forgetting the situation… as per usual.

"Leave it to us!" Luffy told her, before taking off. "Gomu-Gomu no ROCKET!"

Hoshi ran after them as far as she could, watching the trio fly and crash into the farthest enemy ship on the right.

"Don't worry about those guys," Robin assured her. "You didn't see them in Arabasta. Sencho-san actually beat one of the Shibukai there." 

Hoshi quickly turned around, her eyes locking on Robin. "Is that true?" she demanded.

"Very true," Robin informed her. "I saw it myself."

Hoshi locked in the direction the trio had flown. "Even if you say that… those guys make me worry…"

Robin waited.

Hoshi suddenly smiled, a wolf-ish smile that gave anyone who saw it a major attack of the chills. "Heh, Luffy sounds like an interesting guy. I want to see him in action. Nami, Usopp, Chopper, Robin… do any of you mind?"

"Nope, not at all. Make sure those guys don't kill themselves, okay?" Nami grinned.

"Yosh, then…" there was that flash of light. "I'll be their backup. Ja ne, everyone."

Hoshi streaked off in the direction of the ships, a white blur racing across the blue waters of the ocean. Robin watched her progress with a small smile on her face, to be jolted back down to earth as another cannon blew up in the water beside them.

Hoshi had time to think as she covered the distance between the Going Merry and the World Government ships. Bits and pieces of her treasured memories of the mayor came rushing back to her…

"What?! You don't know how to swim?!"

"No…"

"Well it's an absolute shame for this fishing village to have a child who doesn't know how to swim! You and I are going to go to the sea tomorrow first thing in the morning, understood?"

"O-okay…"

Hoshi's eyes softened, and she chuckled to herself as she recalled her first swimming lesson…

"Blow bubbles in the water, like this." The mayor stuck his face in the water and the water around his face boiled with bubbles. He looked absolutely ridiculous. He came up again and shook the water off his face. "You try."

Experiment 413 tried, but she instinctively inhaled some water when she ran out of air for her bubbles and had come up coughing.

The mayor laughed as salty water streamed out her nose.

_Mayor…_

Hoshi arrived at the ship. By the time she got there, the 'ass-kicking' was in full swing.

"GOMU-GOMU NO GATTELING GUN!"

"TRESIME HACHE!"

"Santoryuu... TATSUMAKI!"

"Yo everyone!" Hoshi called. Luffy paused for a second and looked up.

"Ohooo!! Yo Hoshi! Did you come to join us?" he called.

In answer, Hoshi summoned the whip, her choice weapon, and touched down on deck. "Yup, I came to join the fun!" A flash of light, and her wings disappeared. Luffy grinned before launching into another series of attacks.

"Hoshi-chaaaaaan! Don't worry! Your knight-sama will protect you!" Sanji called from the other side of the deck.

Zoro nodded to Hoshi, and then launched another attack on the next wave of World Government officials. "Oni… GIRI!"

"Brochette!!" Sanji launched a series of kicks, injuring another group of them.

"Gomu-Gomu no BAZOOKA!" White and black uniforms went flying everywhere, and not all of them stayed on the ship.

Alright, Hoshi thought. My turn. "Kaze Kakuhan… UINDO SUNAPPU!" The whip whistled through the air and cracked, and the sound wave blew seventeen officials overboard. The actual impact of the whip hit four of them, ramming them headfirst into their comrades and leaving the lot of them unconscious.

Luffy seemed to want to rampage just for the fun of it and they did just that for a bit, but then Sanji pointed out that they should find the cannon room and rampage in _there_, as all the havoc on deck wasn't helping the Going Merry.

"And how do you suppose we get there?" Zoro asked sarcastically. "Do you know where it is?"

"I've been on a ship like this before, but I've never been in the cannon room," Hoshi commented. She had been forced to change her whip to a katana as some officials broke through her defense. She was surrounded by fourteen soldiers.

Hoshi closed her eyes, holding the blade upright with her right hand and resting her left palm on the blade. Zoro watched out of the corner of his eye. There was another sword-master at work here, he could just feel it.

"Niiro Gyouten." Her aqua eyes snapped open, and she spun in a rapid circle. A wave of razor sharp energy circled her, and broke into separate pieces, glowing as they went. They hit the soldiers surrounding her, and absolutely nothing happened for one second. The next second, gashes opened, cutting their stomachs as they screamed.

Fourteen more casualties had just been added to the growing list.

"Dammit, there are too many of them," Sanji yelled after a few more minutes. "We're not making any progress like this."

"Yosh. Everyone, be careful," Luffy called. The other three took one look at their captain's eyes, and immediately ran as far as they could to the other side of the deck. Hoshi transformed her weapon again into a whip. She flicked it, and the end of the whip wrapped itself around the banister of the next ship, a sort of tightrope. Zoro and Sanji unhesitatingly ran across, knowing that the captain was going to do something big, and they didn't want to be a part of it. Hoshi swung herself across and sort of climbed up her whip along the hull after they had gotten across.

Luffy jumped into the air. "GOMU-GOMU NO…" he brought the soles of his sandals together "…YARI!!" He stretched his legs and hit the deck so hard that half of it caved in, taking yet more officials with it. Luffy grinned as he surveyed the wreckage he had caused.

Hoshi watched thunderstruck. The only other being that she had seen cause so much chaos in a five-second period was a mad goose that had gotten loose in a town marketplace. When she had told Robin that she had wanted to see Luffy in action, somehow, she wasn't quite expecting this.

"OI!! GUESS WHAT? I FOUND THE CANNON ROOM!!" Luffy yelled, waving to them cheerfully from amid the wreckage. Zoro and Sanji sweatdropped.

"Hang on… Where'd Hoshi go?" Sanji asked.

Zoro jumped. Now that he thought about it… hadn't she been standing next to him about three seconds ago?

"Gomu-Gomu no… Rocket!" Luffy yelled, launching himself off the wreaked ship and right into his two nakama.

It looked like another cussing-while-abusing-Luffy's-rubber-ablilities fest was about to take place… had there not been a loud boom.

"Emergency! Emergency! Holes have been blasted into the hull of ship six!" came over the Den-Den Mushi loudspeakers. "All shipwrights to the damaged area at once. I repeat…"

"I think… we've found Hoshi," Sanji commented.

As the three pirates watched, the ship whose upper deck Luffy had spectacularly destroyed began to sink before their very eyes. Confused shouting was heard, and the World Government soldiers on ship five had seemed to forget that there were pirates on board as they watched the show.

The mast of the ship and some broken wreakage was all that could be seen when Hoshi surfaced, gasping for breath, and an evil grin on her face. 

"Yosha, good work Hoshi!" Luffy called down. Hoshi managed to give her nakama a thumbs up and a grin… before there was a shot, and a dart was sprouting out of her shoulder. Her eyes widened in surprise, before she went limp and sank underneath the water's surface.

"Hoshi-chan! What's the matter with you? It's only a dart!" Sanji yelled. "It's only a damn dart!"

"AHH!! HOSHI GOT HIT BY A DART!!" Luffy screamed, hanging over the side of the ship. It was a dangerous position for him to be in… if someone pushed him in the right place…

"Don't DO that you moron!" Sanji yelled, pulling him back.

Zoro said nothing, but his instincts told him something was very wrong… wrong enough that he jumped over the ledge and plunged into the water after Hoshi.

Why did a tiny dart like that have so much effect on Hoshi? Is it a hypodermic shot, or something worse? Will everything right themselves out, or will Hoshi fall into the merciless hands of the World Government?


	9. Revenge

Author's Note:

Disclaimer: No no no no I don't own One Piece

Chapter 9: Revenge

Zoro hit the water and went under. His eyes scanned the water, and after a couple minutes, found Hoshi about ten meters below him, little bubbles floating up from her mouth. She wasn't moving at all, just floating farther and farther downwards, her face looking ghostly pale under the water. Alarm raced through him, and he swam downwards. He grabbed her around the waist, and started swimming to the surface.

_Dammit, you'd better be alright_, he thought.

Zoro broke the surface. He pulled at Hoshi's shoulders and got her head out of the water.

"Zoro! Is Hoshi alright?" Luffy called.

_Hoshi wasn't breathing._ Zoro had a moment's panic. He calmed himself down by swimming Hoshi to one of the larger pieces of driftwood and dragging her on top of it. As long as he was moving and doing something, he could hold off the panic.

Hoshi lay on her back, her eyes closed, and her face completely blank. After second's hesitation, Zoro placed both hands on Hoshi's stomach and dug in the base of his hands. Water streamed out of Hoshi's mouth, and then suddenly she started spitting out pints of the stuff. Choking, Hoshi dully opened her eyes. Instead of being her light aqua, Zoro was startled to see that her eyes were suddenly a shade of navy, almost black in color. He had no doubt what the problem was… the dart. He pulled it out of her shoulder.

Barely a second after he pulled out the dart, she sat up, her eyes back to their livid aqua. As she started spitting out even more water in earnest, Zoro washed off the dart, and looked at its tip. The dart was about the length of his middle finger, and the tip was made of some sort of metal.

"HOSHI-CHAAAAN!! ARE YOU ALRIGHT?!" Sanji yelled.

Hoshi gave a last cough, spitting the last bit of water onto the driftwood she was sitting on. "Yup, I'm okay." She turned to Zoro. "You saved me didn't you? Thanks!"

Zoro could feel the heat growing in his face. "No problem," he muttered to his boot.

"Yosh, let's go help Luffy!"

Zoro was blinded by a flash of light. From the yells above, he could guess that the World Government soldiers had gotten blinded too. There was one huge _thump_, one that made his ears throb, and he felt himself being hoisted into the air. Three seconds later, still blinded, he felt solid ground under his feet, and knew he must be on the other ship. What he didn't expect was a kick on the head.

"Damn Marimo-head, you were down there too long!" Sanji yelled at him. Luffy laughed.

"You damn Curly-Brow!" Zoro retorted. "What was that for?"

Zoro and Sanji began another fight, as Luffy looked on and laughed. Hoshi sweatdropped. "Oi, do you guys have any idea of the situation we're in?"

"Do you know what they're doing?" one of the officials asked his companion.

"Not really… they seem to be fighting though." His friend smiled evily and raised a dart gun.

"Chance!"

A jolt of lightning shot up Zoro's spine, just as Hoshi dodged another dart. The tip buried itself into the wooden deck. She yanked it out and looked at the tip. Her aqua eyes widened.

"Silver… of course. I should've known."

"Hmm… did you say something Hoshi-chan?" Sanji said. Hoshi raised the dart, showing him the tip. "Silver weakens me when it comes into direct contact with my body. That other dart probably had a silver tip too."

Zoro remembered the metallic tip on the dart he pulled out of her shoulder.

"You have no time to chat, you damn pirates!" A loud voice boomed out over all the commotion. Hoshi froze.

"Surrender the experiment specimen now, and you all can go back to your ship," the voice demanded. Hoshi was absolutely sure… there was no mistaking that voice…

"Like hell!" Luffy answered. "Are you the one in charge here? Come and fight me!"

"No, just surrender it, and there will be no need for fighting. I have no wish to get my hands dirty today."

"Coward, come and fight! I don't give up my nakama!"

"Oh. You consider it to be your nakama?" Hoshi slowly turned to face the owner of that voice. A golden goatee poked out of his chin.

"Hoshi is not an 'it'!"

"So you would think. You don't know everything about her," the voice boomed. His voice was tearing Hoshi's mind and reason to shreds.

"Experiment 413 was a risk. To it, we did something a little different. Can ordinary birds have the winds at their command?"

"I don't care what the hell she is, she's our nakama," Luffy yelled.

"While it was still a single-celled egg, we had a very special bit of DNA that we infused in her. It was a very rare type of DNA, and most likely the only sample we will ever get. That is why Experiment 413 is so special, and must be kept under our control at all times. That DNA was…"

The whole deck was frozen. Even Luffy had stopped yelling. Hoshi felt as though the wind had been knocked out of her. The truth, finally the real truth…

"Her DNA is that of a phoenix."

A shockwave of fear and panic hit the soldiers. A phoenix! It was a bird of the Devil himself! A legendary monster that could sweep away an entire village with one attack, the phoenixes had often known gone on rampages in legend, often killing thousands in their wake of destruction.

Hoshi's eyes went blank. She fell to her knees, put her hands on the ground, and retched. She was a monster. She couldn't get it out of her mind. Whatever was left holding Hoshi back, it was gone. Hatred rose in her. These people had done her wrong, they had made her into a monster, and especially that one with the blonde goatee…

"Now surrender it to us, Experiment 413."

Luffy, Zoro, and Sanji all stood with their backs to Hoshi, their eyes shadowed.

She dully wondered what they would do. Would they turn her in? Something else, something that was not part of her, had awakened in her mind. It had golden feathers made of fire, and shining red eyes.

"LIKE HELL!!" Luffy roared. "She's the nakama of the man who is going to be the Pirate King, ME!"

The guy who seemed to be the boss actually looked at Luffy for the first time. "Oh, Monkey D Luffy. You're making quite a name for yourself in the world, beating one of the Shibukai."

"Yeah, and-"

Luffy suddenly got chills up his spine. He spun around. Hoshi was on her feet, a demonic aura emitting from her body.

"What the hell… I never expected to ever receive help from the World Government. Now that I know what this power is, I'm not afraid to use it." Wave after wave of power throbbed the air. Nobody dared to move.

"Dear blonde-goatee dude, do you happen to remember the last time you saw me? Seven or eight years ago, I believe it was." The words were casual, spoken cheerfully, yet she gave the man a glare that made him take a two steps backwards. A bead of sweat slid down his face.

"Yes, I remember it very well."

"It was in a little down, a small fishing village. The mayor was a man with half-moon glasses," she said, and that same tone.

"Ah, that man. I remember thinking that he was a very stupid man to stand up to the World Government. It was a miracle that he had ever gotten to be mayor to begin wi-"

The blond goatee man's words were cut off by a roaring wind. The wind blew some soldiers off their feet. Zoro, Luffy, and Sanji were able to keep their ground though. The wind was not quite as strong in the places they were standing in.

"Don't you DARE insult the mayor." Hoshi's form was changing. Her wings melded with her arms and grew larger, the feathers turned to gold. Her legs became scaly, and her feet changed to leathal claws. Her skull elongated, her mouth into a long and narrow beak. Her eyes changed shape, becoming longer. The whites of her eyes turned red, and a black slit served as her pupil. The commander thought he saw the pits of Hell when he made the mistake of making direct eye contact. The only resemblance of the phoenix to Hoshi was that a many-faceted crystal ball still hung at its neck. It let loose a mournful cry that held itself on a low tremolo.

"AWESOME!!" Luffy yelled, stars in his eyes. Zoro and Sanji sweatdropped. "Oi…"

Suddenly, the phoenix song was cut short, and it fell onto its side, three silver-tipped darts in its side. Its form shrank, and then Hoshi's body returned. She stirred feebly, then struggled to get to her feet, without success.

"Hoshi!" Zoro ran over to help her, but the darts fell to the deck with a clatter before he reached her. She stood up straight, her eyes spewing hate towards the commander with the golden goatee. Her knees shook, and she was trembling from weakness. The commander watched her, smirking.

"So… you pirate scum have named your new pet, have you?"

"I'm not a pet, and I'm not an 'it' either!" Hoshi screamed out of fury. He laughed.

"Strong words, but your transformation has given your skeletal frame quite a shock. That's not something you can change. If you transform too many times in your life, your skeletal frame will weaken, and crumble inside your own body."

"Do I care?!"

"Experiment 413, you returning to the laboratory alive is our top priority. By forceful means, if necessary." He took out a dart gun from his belt, and pointed it right at her. "The silver in one dart should be more than enough to restrain you in your weakened state."

Hoshi paled, and cried out in desperation, "I WON'T GO BACK TO A DAMN LABORATORY!"

"Unfortunately, you don't have a choice." He placed his finger on the trigger.

Hoshi's eyes were wide. Her entire body was trembling uncontrollably. _Dammit_, she thought. _If only I could move properly!_

Luffy, Zoro, and Sanji had listened to the exchange, eyes shadowed.

"Oi, Goatee-Commander," Luffy said.

The commander looked sideways in Luffy's direction. "I'll deal with you in a second."

"You're forgetting something really important," Sanji started.

"It's something you shouldn't ever forget, or else you're going to get hurt," Zoro intoned.

"Hoshi is… not alone." Luffy drew back his fist.

Zoro placed a hand on his swords.

Sanji blew a puff of smoke into the air.

"Who do you think you are, challenging the authority of the World Government?" the commander asked, a mocking gleam in his eye.

"I already told you…" Luffy swung his fist forward. "I'm the man who's going to become the Pirate King!"

"WAIT!!" Hoshi yelled. Luffy stopped his fist right in front of the commander's face.

"Don't touch him," Hoshi gasped. She had real trouble standing up, but she slowly pulled herself to her feet. The other three gaped at her in astonishment.

"What are you talking about?!" Luffy yelled. The commander smirked, certain that Experiment 413 was going to come with him peacefully. Luffy continued. "This guy is a bad guy! He's-"

"MINE."

There was a great rush of wind. Hoshi held her whip coiled in her hand. She brought her head up, and made eye contact with the commander, making him sweat. There was no mercy in the cold aqua eyes. He stepped back to put more distance between himself and that gaze, before remembering Hoshi's weakened state.

He laughed. "What can you do? You can't do anything! Just look at yourself!" he rang. His mocking laugher filled the ship. The watching soldiers laughed along. The soldiers, in fact, were so busy pretending to laugh that they did not immediately hear the crack of a whip landing on human flesh.


	10. Falling Ships

Author's Note: Last chapter all! Sequel to come!

Disclaimer: reads off a notecard don't own One Piece, never will, end of story

Chapter 10: Falling Ships

Hoshi gasped for air and her body felt like it was about to fold and collapse in on itself, but the deed was done. Neither the cracked skull nor the blood staining the commander's robes were a pretty sight. She let her whip disappear, before dragging her feet to the body. Somehow, she summoned moisture in her mouth, and spat on the corpse.

"That was for the mayor, you bastard," she whispered, before she passed out. She fell backwards, but Zoro caught her and placed her gently on the ground.

Sanji blew another smoke cloud. "With their commander gone, I'd say that they have no more need to attack us."

Indeed, the attacks had actually come to a halt when ship six had been sunk, and a large percentage of the soldiers were on the casualty list.

"Yosh. Let's go back to the ship then." Luffy looked out at the Going Merry, about 100 meters away. "Heh, it's going to be harder to get there with three people," he muttered to himself. Then he happened to look up at the World Government flag snapping in the breeze on the mast. He grinned.

Zoro and Sanji, following his eyes, both knew what was coming.

"Dammit, it's like this every time," Sanji grumbled.

"Zoro, pick up Hoshi! Sanji! Let's go!" Luffy yelled, running to the back of the ship.

The stunned soldiers just watched them go. Zoro piggy-backed Hoshi to where Luffy was, and then held her under her shoulders with one arm around her back. He placed his other arm around Luffy, who had stretched his arms and grabbed the very top of the mast. Sanji grabbed Luffy's other shoulder, and they both hung on for their lives as Luffy took off

Nami, pacing the deck, heard Zoro and Sanji screaming in the air, and Luffy laughing like crazy.

"It seems that Sencho-san is returning," Robin noted, turning a page of her book.

Nami squinted up at the sun, trying to see which direction they were coming from. The one place she didn't look… they came.

She screamed as they came directly out of the sky and all landed in a spectacular heap on the deck… as usual. Only this time, they had missed her by about two feet.

"Welcome back, Sencho-san," Robin said, turning another page.

Luffy laughed so hard that tears leaked out of his eyes when he saw Nami's face. Sanji rubbed his back and groaned. "Dammit, I think I broke my back this time."

"AHH!! YOU GUYS DAMAGED THE SHIP AGAIN!" Usopp yelled. It was true… the floorboards had been cracked and the banister was broken. He hit Luffy on the head. "BE MORE CAREFUL WITH MERRY!"

Chopper came out on deck in his cute little reindeer form. "I'm glad you guys made it back!" he said cheerfully.

"I think we were in more danger getting to and from the ship than when we were attacking the World Government soldiers," Zoro grumbled, a huge bump on his head.

Hoshi sat up, having been jarred to consciousness by the impact. She sat rubbing the back of her neck. "Ouch ouch ouch ouch ouch… I've got a damn crick in my neck…"

Robin smiled to herself.

"DAMMIT YOU GUYS, ARE YOU TRYING TO KILL ME?" Nami yelled, hitting Zoro, Sanji, and Luffy on their heads. "I'm not blaming you," she told the wide eyed Hoshi.

Later, after Chopper had supplied medical care, Luffy sat cross-legged on his special seat. "YOSH! LET'S GO TO THE NEXT ISLAND!" he screamed, punching one fist into the air. Everybody yelled "AYE!!", and they sailed away, turning their backs on the World Government ships. Hoshi faced the horizon ahead with determined eyes, wings pulled in, her hands balled into fists at her sides. Whatever the world could throw at her now, she was ready for it.

"SANJI!"

"Shit."

"FOOOOOOOOOD!!!"

"NO! It's not lunchtime yet, and you know you have to wait until the ladies have eaten first!"

"But I'm hungry! I WANT MEAT!"

"NO means NO!"

"MEAT!"

Two days passed, and Hoshi found herself with lots of free time. Often, she would fly and go scouting to make sure that there were no enemy ships that might attack the Going Merry. Her days were happy, but something had woken up in her mind when she had found out that she had phoenix DNA… it had fiery feathers and glowing red eyes, and whispered to her, trying to talk to her, but she ignored it. She was scared of what might happen if she listened to it. Hoshi wouldn't have admitted it to anyone, but the fear was eating her mind, and if she didn't do something about it, she was going to explode… Fueled by sudden inspiration, she got up and walked over to the end of the deck where Zoro was sleeping.

Going up to Zoro, she leaned down and flicked him sharply on the forehead to wake him up. He slowly opened one eye.

"What is it?" he asked her blearily.

"Wanna spar?" she asked him.

She had caught his attention. He sat up straight, and grinned wolfishly at her. "What do you have in mind?"

Five minutes later, the Straw Hat pirates were all gathered around the main deck, watching Hoshi and Zoro spar with swords. She dodged an attack aiming for her head by ducking down, and counterattacked by slicing up from underneath him. Zoro blocked it. He was using Nitoryuu, or two sword style, against Hoshi. Both of them were using their real swords. Even Robin had put down her book to come and watch.

"OI!! You guys better not damage Merry!" Usopp called while hanging over the banister. Neither one answered him, focusing all their concentration on the battle, and Usopp fell into a desolate heap.

"Nitoryuu…Nigiri!" Zoro yelled, rushing to attack. Hoshi blocked it easily. She grinned wolfishly as he growled. "Nice to see you're getting serious," she informed him.

"Hirameiki!"

"Shishi Sonson!"

"Tourou!"

"Outourou!"

"Samon!"

One by one, Zoro rushed into the attack, and one by one, Hoshi blocked them with graceful ease. There was a pause, a lull in the battle. Zoro looked Hoshi over with new eyes. An evil grin crept onto her face. "My turn." An electric jolt sped up Zoro's spine at the look on her face, and he instinctively took a defensive stance.

Hoshi brought her sword up, holding it completely still. "Chouchou Deba no Butokai."

Zoro suddenly found himself being assaulted by a series of flowing attacks, coming so quickly that it was all he could do to block them…

His swords flew out of his hands, and Zoro fell down on his butt. Hoshi gently laid the tip of her katana at his throat. With that small action, she claimed victory.

Zoro felt himself shaking. This was just like when he used to battle Kuina… Then he met Hoshi's gaze. Her aqua eyes held no mocking laughter, like Kuina's did after she beat him… her eyes held something different. She took away her sword and let it disappear. She then smiled, and offered a slender hand to help him up. He took it.

"SO COOL!!"

A shout from the sideline made the pair of them look up. Luffy was yelling at the top of his lungs… as usual.

"Wow… Hoshi's strong," Chopper said to no one in particular.

"I'll tell you something Zoro," Hoshi said, speaking over Luffy. "'Chouchou Deba no Butokai' and blocking are the only things I know how to do with a sword, so I don't doubt that you'll be able to beat me once you find out the secret." She smiled a little regretfully.

"HOSHI-CHAAAN! YOU'RE BEAUTIFUL WHEN YOU BEAT THE SHITTY MARIMO-HEAD!!" Sanji called, hearts in his eyes.

"SHUT UP, you Love-Cook!" Zoro yelled, stress marks appearing on his forehead. He was annoyed in more ways than one…

"Eh what was that!?" Sanji took a puff on his cigarette. Hoshi sweatdropped… how many times did those two need to fight per day? As the pair continued their shouting match, accompanied by Luffy laughing and Nami screaming that they were both morons, she looked out over the ocean. It was quiet and peaceful….

Robin watched her, smiling.

Suddenly Hoshi turned her eyes to Robin's, and smiled. "Ne, Robin-san, can I talk to you for a second? I promise it won't take very long," she said.

Taken aback, Robin said, "Sure." They walked off together into Nami's mikan trees.

Hoshi looked a little uncomfortable. Robin waited for her to start the conversation.

"Um, Robin-san… can I ask you a question? Don't think I'm taking this lightly."

"Of course."

"Well, I've noticed that you seem to be very comfortable on this ship. I know some things about your background. Growing up in a World Government lab, I hear things," Hoshi said with a grin to Robin's startled face. "I know that you are a highly wanted criminal for something in your head that the Government wants. You've survived until now by joining criminal organizations and using them as your shields when the Government came for you. My question is… why would a person who's been through so much like that place her trust in a group of pirates like this?"

Hoshi seemed to be forcing the words out of her mouth. Apparently, personal affairs weren't an easy spot for her to touch.

Robin considered the question for a minute before answering. "Why do I place my trust in Sencho-san and the others? I guess it's because they accept me for who I am."

Hoshi and Robin both turned their eyes to the captain, who had somehow wedged himself between the Zoro-Sanji fight, and was now being chased around the deck by the two of them. He was laughing like a maniac as he ran around the deck in crazy patterns. Robin chuckled.

"It's hard not to be comfortable and relax. Also… Sencho-san doesn't ask me to do anything, and he accepts me for who I am. He doesn't want me to make his goals my goals, but instead lets me harbor my own dream to work towards instead of forcing me to help him make his dreams reality. If he lets you onto this ship, you can just relax and be yourself, and he won't tell you off for being human. You're allowed to make mistakes. All he asks for is loyalty, but that's about it. Anything else you want to do, you can do. I like that. Is that enough answer?"

"Yeah… thanks Robin-san." Hoshi mulled over Robin's words for a moment, and then jumped out of the grove. Right before she landed though, Luffy ran into her. He yelled and fell on top of her, when Sanji and Zoro ran into the both of them. They all disappeared in a cloud of dust, with fists and heads occasionally jutting out. It was one big mass of chaos. Somehow, Usopp also managed to get himself into the fight. Robin chuckled.

Suddenly, something fell from the sky and hit Zoro on the head. He paused and received a kick in the face for it.

"Oi, Love-Cook, hand on for a second!"

"Telling me what to do, are you Marimo-head? I'll show you-" Something fell out of the sky and hit _Sanji_ on the head.

"Eh? What is this?!"

"It's not rain…" Hoshi mused, catching one in her hand. "It's like…" She looked up and froze. Following her gaze, the rest of the crew looked up… and saw a ship falling down towards them.

"A SHIP!! FALLING FROM THE SKY!!" Luffy yelled.

"What the hell," Zoro growled.

Robin looked up at the ship. "It seems it is going to hit us," she commented as debris continued to fall from the falling ship.

Usopp accidentally caught something. He looked at it for a second… "AHH!! IT'S A SKULL!!" He ran around the deck, dropping the skull behind him.

_Great… Now what?_ Hoshi thought. She grinned. _It's the start of something big… I can just feel it._

The End

Sequel story: To the Sky!

Look for it!

DO YOU ALL THINK THAT TYING HOSHI IN WITH THE CREW'S ORIGINAL STORY IN "To the Sky!" IS GOOD OR BAD?? REVIEW AND TELL ME!


	11. Learning How to Live: Alternate Ending

Author's Note: This is an original ending, it will branch off into a new original story sometime soon. It's the same as the other ending, except that the ending of this chapt is different. Planning on more HoshixZoro in the sequel, so look for it! Hope you all like!

Disclaimer: Don't own One Piece

Chapter 10: Learning How to Live

Hoshi gasped for air and her body felt like it was about to fold and collapse in on itself, but the deed was done. Neither the cracked skull nor the blood staining the commander's robes were a pretty sight. She let her whip disappear, before dragging her feet to the body. Somehow, she summoned moisture in her mouth, and spat on the corpse.

"That was for the mayor, you bastard," she whispered, before she passed out. She fell backwards, but Zoro caught her and placed her gently on the ground.

Sanji blew another smoke cloud. "With their commander gone, I'd say that they have no more need to attack us."

Indeed, the attacks had actually come to a halt when ship six had been sunk, and a large percentage of the soldiers were on the casualty list.

"Yosh. Let's go back to the ship then." Luffy looked out at the Going Merry, about 100 meters away. "Heh, it's going to be harder to get there with three people," he muttered to himself. Then he happened to look up at the World Government flag snapping in the breeze on the mast. He grinned.

Zoro and Sanji, following his eyes, both knew what was coming.

"Dammit, it's like this every time," Sanji grumbled.

"Zoro, pick up Hoshi! Sanji! Let's go!" Luffy yelled, running to the back of the ship.

The stunned soldiers just watched them go. Zoro piggy-backed Hoshi to where Luffy was, and then held her under her shoulders with one arm around her back. He placed his other arm around Luffy, who had stretched his arms and grabbed the very top of the mast. Sanji grabbed Luffy's other shoulder, and they both hung on for their lives as Luffy took off

Nami, pacing the deck, heard Zoro and Sanji screaming in the air, and Luffy laughing like crazy.

"It seems that Sencho-san is returning," Robin noted, turning a page of her book.

Nami squinted up at the sun, trying to see which direction they were coming from. The one place she didn't look… they came.

She screamed as they came directly out of the sky and all landed in a spectacular heap on the deck… as usual. Only this time, they had missed her by about two feet.

"Welcome back, Sencho-san," Robin said, turning another page.

Luffy laughed so hard that tears leaked out of his eyes when he saw Nami's face. Sanji rubbed his back and groaned. "Dammit, I think I broke my back this time."

"AHH!! YOU GUYS DAMAGED THE SHIP AGAIN!" Usopp yelled. It was true… the floorboards had been cracked and the banister was broken. He hit Luffy on the head. "BE MORE CAREFUL WITH MERRY!"

Chopper came out on deck in his cute little reindeer form. "I'm glad you guys made it back!" he said cheerfully.

"I think we were in more danger getting to and from the ship than when we were attacking the World Government soldiers," Zoro grumbled, a huge bump on his head.

Hoshi sat up, having been jarred to consciousness by the impact. She sat rubbing the back of her neck. "Ouch ouch ouch ouch ouch… I've got a damn crick in my neck…"

Robin smiled to herself.

"DAMMIT YOU GUYS, ARE YOU TRYING TO KILL ME?" Nami yelled, hitting Zoro, Sanji, and Luffy on their heads. "I'm not blaming you," she told the wide eyed Hoshi.

Later, after Chopper had supplied medical care, Luffy sat cross-legged on his special seat. "YOSH! LET'S GO TO THE NEXT ISLAND!" he screamed, punching one fist into the air. Everybody yelled "AYE!!", and they sailed away, turning their backs on the World Government ships. Hoshi faced the horizon ahead with determined eyes, wings pulled in, her hands balled into fists at her sides. Whatever the world could throw at her now, she was ready for it.

"SANJI!"

"Shit."

"FOOOOOOOOOD!!!"

"NO! It's not lunchtime yet, and you know you have to wait until the ladies have eaten first!"

"But I'm hungry! I WANT MEAT!"

"NO means NO!"

"MEAT!"

Two days passed, and Hoshi found herself with lots of free time. Often, she would fly and go scouting to make sure that there were no enemy ships that might attack the Going Merry. Her days were happy, but something had woken up in her mind when she had found out that she had phoenix DNA… it had fiery feathers and glowing red eyes, and whispered to her, trying to talk to her, but she ignored it. She was scared of what might happen if she listened to it. Hoshi wouldn't have admitted it to anyone, but the fear was eating her mind, and if she didn't do something about it, she was going to explode… Fueled by sudden inspiration, she got up and walked over to the end of the deck where Zoro was sleeping.

Going up to Zoro, she leaned down and flicked him sharply on the forehead to wake him up. He slowly opened one eye.

"What is it?" he asked her blearily.

"Wanna spar?" she asked him.

She had caught his attention. He sat up straight, and grinned wolfishly at her. "What do you have in mind?"

Five minutes later, the Straw Hat pirates were all gathered around the main deck, watching Hoshi and Zoro spar with swords. She dodged an attack aiming for her head by ducking down, and counterattacked by slicing up from underneath him. Zoro blocked it. He was using Nitoryuu, or two sword style, against Hoshi. Both of them were using their real swords. Even Robin had put down her book to come and watch.

"OI!! You guys better not damage Merry!" Usopp called while hanging over the banister. Neither one answered him, focusing all their concentration on the battle, and Usopp fell into a desolate heap.

"Nitoryuu…Nigiri!" Zoro yelled, rushing to attack. Hoshi blocked it easily. She grinned wolfishly as he growled. "Nice to see you're getting serious," she informed him.

"Hirameiki!"

"Shishi Sonson!"

"Tourou!"

"Outourou!"

"Samon!"

One by one, Zoro rushed into the attack, and one by one, Hoshi blocked them with graceful ease. There was a pause, a lull in the battle. Zoro looked Hoshi over with new eyes. An evil grin crept onto her face. "My turn." An electric jolt sped up Zoro's spine at the look on her face, and he instinctively took a defensive stance.

Hoshi brought her sword up, holding it completely still. "Chouchou Deba no Butokai."

Zoro suddenly found himself being assaulted by a series of flowing attacks, coming so quickly that it was all he could do to block them…

His swords flew out of his hands, and Zoro fell down on his butt. Hoshi gently laid the tip of her katana at his throat. With that small action, she claimed victory.

Zoro felt himself shaking. This was just like when he used to battle Kuina… Then he met Hoshi's gaze. Her aqua eyes held no mocking laughter, like Kuina's did after she beat him… her eyes held something different. She took away her sword and let it disappear. She then smiled, and offered a slender hand to help him up. He took it.

"SO COOL!!"

A shout from the sideline made the pair of them look up. Luffy was yelling at the top of his lungs… as usual.

"Wow… Hoshi's strong," Chopper said to no one in particular.

"I'll tell you something Zoro," Hoshi said, speaking over Luffy. "'Chouchou Deba no Butokai' and blocking are the only things I know how to do with a sword, so I don't doubt that you'll be able to beat me once you find out the secret." She smiled a little regretfully.

"HOSHI-CHAAAN! YOU'RE BEAUTIFUL WHEN YOU BEAT THE SHITTY MARIMO-HEAD!!" Sanji called, hearts in his eyes.

"SHUT UP, you Love-Cook!" Zoro yelled, stress marks appearing on his forehead. He was annoyed in more ways than one…

"Eh what was that!?" Sanji took a puff on his cigarette. Hoshi sweatdropped… how many times did those two need to fight per day? As the pair continued their shouting match, accompanied by Luffy laughing and Nami screaming that they were both morons, she looked out over the ocean. It was quiet and peaceful….

Robin watched her, smiling.

Suddenly Hoshi turned her eyes to Robin's, and smiled. "Ne, Robin-san, can I talk to you for a second? I promise it won't take very long," she said.

Taken aback, Robin said, "Sure." They walked off together into Nami's mikan trees.

Hoshi looked a little uncomfortable. Robin waited for her to start the conversation.

"Um, Robin-san… can I ask you a question? Don't think I'm taking this lightly."

"Of course."

"Well, I've noticed that you seem to be very comfortable on this ship. I know some things about your background. Growing up in a World Government lab, I hear things," Hoshi said with a grin to Robin's startled face. "I know that you are a highly wanted criminal for something in your head that the Government wants. You've survived until now by joining criminal organizations and using them as your shields when the Government came for you. My question is… why would a person who's been through so much like that place her trust in a group of pirates like this?"

Hoshi seemed to be forcing the words out of her mouth. Apparently, personal affairs weren't an easy spot for her to touch.

Robin considered the question for a minute before answering. "Why do I place my trust in Sencho-san and the others? I guess it's because they accept me for who I am."

Hoshi and Robin both turned their eyes to the captain, who had somehow wedged himself between the Zoro-Sanji fight, and was now being chased around the deck by the two of them. He was laughing like a maniac as he ran around the deck in crazy patterns. Robin chuckled.

"It's hard not to be comfortable and relax. Also… Sencho-san doesn't ask me to do anything, and he accepts me for who I am. He doesn't want me to make his goals my goals, but instead lets me harbor my own dream to work towards instead of forcing me to help him make his dreams reality. If he lets you onto this ship, you can just relax and be yourself, and he won't tell you off for being human. You're allowed to make mistakes. All he asks for is loyalty, but that's about it. Anything else you want to do, you can do. I like that. Is that enough answer?"

"Yeah… thanks Robin-san." Hoshi mulled over Robin's words for a moment, and then jumped out of the grove. Right before she landed though, Luffy ran into her. He yelled and fell on top of her, when Sanji and Zoro ran into the both of them. They all disappeared in a cloud of dust, with fists and heads and feet occasionally jutting out. It was one big mass of chaos. Somehow, Usopp also managed to get himself into the fight. Robin chuckled.

Hoshi fell out of the cloud and hit her head on the cabin wall. "Damn," she grumbled, sitting up and rubbing her head. Looking up at Robin, she asked, "Is it really like this all the time?"

Robin smiled down at Hoshi. "Yes, I believe so."

The aqua eyes continued to follow the dust cloud around the ship. Nami stormed over and followed the dust cloud around, yelling at it and its occupants while Chopper hid on the wrong side of a barrel. Suddenly, Hoshi started laughing. "Man, I sure picked one hell of a crew to be on," she laughed.

After the day had passed rather peacefully (excluding a disastrous game of tag, Hoshi accidentally eating a one of Usopp's Tabasco Bombers, Nami yelling at the seagull that brought the newspaper, Zoro being punched overboard by Nami for no good reason, Hoshi unknowingly eating one of Nami's tangerines and being caught, Chopper's workbench getting upturned when the game of tag entered the entrance to the cabins, another random dust cloud that somehow happened when Luffy tried to stop Sanji and Zoro from fighting, and Luffy raiding into the refrigerator with Sanji yelling at him later), the crew retired to bed. All in all, it had been a regular day.

Hoshi played the crew to sleep with a soft melody on her flute. It reminded Zoro of a flying bird as he lay in his hammock, listening.

Robin had the first watch. Zoro was not quite asleep when the historian called down, "You play very well, Gakushi-san."

Hoshi laughed. "Thanks Robin." She stretched. "Usopp has the second watch tonight, just letting you know. I have the third watch afterwards."

Robin smiled. "I'll be sure to remember that. Goodnight."

"Goodnight!" Hoshi called, waving cheerfully before going into the women's quarters. She lay down on her cot and sighed. This time… this ship… this crew… this was going to be different from others. Hoshi was absolutely sure that these people would never leave her behind… an assurance that she had missed since she was eight years old. The first few years of her life that she could remember had been spent in torment, constantly being poked and tested in a laboratory. A small golden time, perhaps about six months, when the mayor had taken her in had followed… then there was nothing after that but run and run and stay alive. But not anymore. These people had given her a place… a place where she belonged and could be herself, learn to live, and most importantly, be _free_.

"Goodnight everyone," she whispered, before falling into a peaceful sleep… something that had not happened in years.

The End

Original Sequel: Adventures on Kiken Island

Look for it!!


End file.
